Her press lawyer explains: That is why the Schumacher family does not provide health updates

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On December 29, 2013, almost ten years ago, Michael Schumacher had a serious accident while skiing in Méribel (France). The public still does not know what the health status of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion from Germany is. Mick Schumacher (43 F1 GPs completed) was traveling with his father in Méribel when the accident happened. He, his sister Gina Maria and mother Corinna do not provide updates. ‘We live at home together. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael feel better, to make him feel comfortable and to make him feel like our family, our connection,” Corinna said in a 2021 Netflix documentary.

Felix Damm, press lawyer for the Schumacher family for fifteen years, now explains why his clients have chosen this silent path. «It was always about protecting private matters. Naturally, we have discussed a lot about how this is possible. That’s why we also considered whether a final report on Michael’s health would be the right way to do this. But that would not have been the end and there would have to be constantly updated ‘water level reports’,” said Damm in an interview with the legal magazine “Legal Tribune Online”.

No final line possible

Damm: “As an affected person, it is not up to you to put an end to the media. They could pick up such a report again and again and ask, “So what does it look like now?” one, two, three months or years after the message. And if we were to take action against this reporting, we would have to deal with the argument of voluntary disclosure.”

The lawyer remembers the time immediately after the accident, when Schumacher was treated in the hospital in Grenoble. “I still have the image in my mind of the numerous journalists and photographers who waited for days for information outside the hospital in Grenoble after the accident. To take away the pressure, general information about the injuries was first given during press meetings where the treating doctors were also present. So that was actually content that was thematically classified as privacy-related. That was actually new.” The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) later decided that the media were not allowed to speculate about Schumacher’s health status despite the press conferences in Grenoble, because the information provided at the time was “so general”, Damm explains.

100,000 euros in compensation

The subject of Schumacher is not a taboo in the tabloid press. The magazine ‘die aktuell’, which this year used artificial intelligence to create an interview with Schumacher, printed the sentence ‘He is no longer with us’ on the front page in 2016, giving the impression that Michael Schumacher had died . Damm went to court and demanded damages of 100,000 euros. “I am not aware of any case where higher monetary compensation had to be paid for the publication of a judgment,” he told Legal Tribune Online.

The press lawyer finds the arguments of media representatives who claim that Michael Schumacher cannot file claims because he was not aware of the personal injuries resulting from his accident ‘remarkably cynical’. Damm makes it clear: “Denying protection to those who are particularly vulnerable is the wrong approach.” (Yes)

Source : Blick