Overview
- The Berlin administrative court dismissed the DRK‑Klinik Köpenick’s complaint on Monday, June 8, 2026, saying the plaintiffs should have challenged a 2019/2020 Betrauungsakt earlier and that the current case is procedurally inadmissible.
- The DRK action, filed in August 2023 on behalf of about 30 private, free‑charitable and faith‑based hospitals, accused the city of favoring the municipal Vivantes group with large special payments to cover deficits.
- Because the court declined to decide the merit, the core question — whether Berlin’s payments to Vivantes violated equality, hospital‑funding law or EU state‑aid rules — remains unresolved and likely headed for appeal.
- DRK leaders said they will wait for the written judgment before lodging legal remedies, and the trade union Verdi praised the ruling as strengthening the city’s ability to support public hospitals while pressing for public‑sector pay in Vivantes subsidiaries.
- The dispute highlights strains in Germany’s dual hospital finance system, where sickness funds pay running costs and states fund investment, and it could affect other cases and fragile private clinics after recent insolvencies and similar lawsuits elsewhere.