An EU court opinion has concluded that Zapp cannot sue its manager to recover a German antitrust fine, closing off one avenue of private recoupment for companies penalised by national competition authorities.

The opinion, issued by an EU court in a case concerning the German antitrust fine imposed on Zapp, addresses whether a company that has paid a competition penalty may turn around and claim that money back from an individual manager. The court's answer: no.

What does the opinion say?

The deciding body found that Zapp cannot pursue its manager for recovery of the German antitrust fine. The reasoning turns on the nature of antitrust penalties as public-law sanctions imposed on the undertaking itself, rather than private losses that the company can pass on to individual employees or officers through civil claims.

The case reference and precise holding language were not detailed in the available report, but the operative outcome is clear: the manager-facing recovery action fails at the EU court level.

What does the ruling change for practitioners?

For counsel advising companies facing national competition fines in Germany and across the EU, the opinion signals that fining liability rests with the undertaking and cannot be shifted downstream to individual managers through follow-on damages suits. Compliance teams and litigation departments should therefore not structure penalty budgets on the assumption that fines can be recouped from responsible individuals. If the opinion is followed by the full court, companies will need to rely on indemnity arrangements negotiated in advance, D&O insurance terms, or internal recourse clauses — rather than freestanding recovery claims — if they want any prospect of shifting the economic burden of an antitrust fine. Individual-exposure questions, where they arise, will continue to be handled through direct regulatory or, in some jurisdictions, criminal proceedings against individuals, not through the fined company's private litigation.

Why it matters

The opinion sits within a broader line of EU case law defining who bears antitrust fines and under what conditions private parties can recover competition-related losses. By rejecting the manager as a recovery target, the court adviser reinforces the principle that the fined entity absorbs the penalty. Practitioners in Germany — where competition authorities have imposed substantial cartel fines on undertakings — will watch whether the full court confirms the opinion and whether national courts follow suit in analogous claims.