Most of the Corona claims have now been concluded. Only a handful of plaintiffs succeeded, and in many cases the courts did not even hold a public hearing with an expert testimony.
A “Welt am Sonntag” query sent to all higher administrative courts in February showed that the courts had already approved the majority of Corona measures in summary proceedings. It is now clear that even in the full proceedings they only rarely reached a different outcome.
For example, the Baden‑Württemberg Higher Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) received 201 norm‑control applications, all of which have now been processed. A judgment was issued in only 16 cases. The court grouped similar claims into so‑called “model groups”. If a measure was declared lawful in that group, many other plaintiffs dropped their own cases because a loss was expected. In the 16 judgments, the court granted three claims in full, three partly, and held 13 oral hearings. No official expert hearing ever took place.
The higher administrative courts in Lower Saxony and Bremen have also finished all their cases. In Bavaria there are about 450 substantive cases pending, with 14 decisions still outstanding. In the Berlin‑Brandenburg court, of roughly 100 norm‑control procedures, only three remain pending; none of the past applications succeeded. The Hessen Higher Administrative Court still has over ten of its 119 norm‑control applications to decide, and so far none have been successful. It did not hold any oral hearings.
The North Rhine - Westphalia court has already decided on 380 norm‑control applications, with only three achieving at least a partial success. Eight cases remain open. Oral hearings were held 25 times, but no expert hearings were conducted; instead, the judge relied “on a comprehensive assessment of written scientific opinions” in the reasoning, according to a court spokesperson.
Because of Germany’s federal patchwork of jurisdictions and litigation routes, an exact nationwide count of how many Corona cases were brought and how they concluded will likely never be known. Nonetheless, the higher administrative courts in almost all states are responsible for overseeing state regulations that contained the most extensive Corona measures.