By Ulrike Dauer
FRANKFURT--A German court Tuesday rejected legal challenges to
decisions made at Deutsche Bank AG's (DB) extraordinary
shareholders meeting in April of this year, according to the court
ruling seen by The Wall Street Journal.
The court, the regional court in Hesse based in Frankfurt, ruled
that no formal errors were made at the meeting.
Shareholder representatives for Kirch Media Group, which has
been in a decadelong legal battle with Deutsche Bank involving
civil and criminal proceedings, had challenged the decisions,
claiming "formal errors" had been made at the meeting.
Kirch, which can appeal the decision, wants to review the
written court ruling before making a decision, said a spokesman. A
spokesman for Deutsche Bank said it is satisfied with the
decision.
Deutsche Bank was forced to call the meeting April 11, to comply
with a German court ruling that several shareholder votes cast at
the previous annual shareholders meeting in May 2012 were invalid,
including the election of the bank's supervisory board
chairman.
On Dec. 17, the same court is expected to rule on the challenge
to this year's regular annual general meeting votes by shareholder
representatives of Kirch.
Heirs to former German media mogul Leo Kirch claim Deutsche Bank
bears some of the blame for its 2002 insolvency due to interview
comments made by then Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Rolf Breuer.
Kirch is demanding billions of euros in compensation. A Munich
appeals court ruled in December that Deutsche Bank bears some
liability for the insolvency but has yet to set compensation.
Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@wsj.com; Twitter:
@UlrikeDauer