Withdrawal of Leave-to-Appeal: Procedural Consequences Under §§ 565, 516 Abs. 3 ZPO

The Federal Court of Civil Procedure (BGH) ordered that the defendant’s appeal (Nichtzulassungsbeschwerde) against a lower court order is declared lost following its withdrawal, with the associated costs imposed on the defendant. The dispute involved a procedural challenge to a non-admissibility decision issued by the Landgericht Cologne’s 10th Civil Chamber, which had previously denied leave to appeal the merits of the case. The decisive legal basis was the defendant’s voluntary withdrawal of the leave to appeal, triggering the procedural consequence under Sections 565 and 516 (3) of the German Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) that declares the legal remedy lost without a substantive review of the admissibility criteria, with the amount in dispute set at 3,000 euros.