The right to be heard in public courts was considered to be co | Vis Moot

The right to be heard in public courts was considered to be constitutional right of an applicant despite the existing arbitration clause in the contract.

In the initial proceedings before the German civil courts, the complainant, a professional athlete, asserted inter alia claims for damages and compensation for pain and suffering against two sports associations that had imposed and implemented a doping ban on the complainant. The Federal Court of Justice found the complaint inadmissible because the complainant had agreed to an arbitration clause mandating dispute resolution before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) located in Lausanne, Switzerland. The complainant challenged this decision in her constitutional complaint.

The German Constitutional Court found that the weighing of the right of access to justice, on the one hand, and the freedom of contract and the autonomy of association, on the other hand, did not conform with constitutional requirements.

More details about the decision are available here.

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