According to the Court of Midden-Nederland, solar panel company Bob Solar did not abuse procedural law by bringing a claim for inspection in proceedings on the merits that was already denied in summary proceedings earlier.
In 2023, the TV show Radar of AVROTROS made a broadcast about Bob Solar. This company was said to sell solar panels to consumers but fail to deliver them. In 2024, Bob Solar brought summary proceedings about this broadcast, in which it claimed an order for the takedown of the episode and inspection of the data and documents on which AVROTROS had based the episode. The summary proceedings judge of the Court of Midden-Nederland rejected all its claims.
In these proceedings on the merits, Bob Solar again claimed a takedown order. As an incidental claim, it also brought the same claim for inspection. Eventually Bob Solar failed to appear at the hearing and the Court denied both the claims in the principal action and in the incident.
AVROTROS requested the Court to depart from the highest court-approved scale of costs in its determination of the attorney's fees. According to AVROTROS, there is abuse of rights, since Bob Solar unnecessarily brought an incidental claim for inspection, which had been denied in summary proceedings earlier. We understand quite well that AVROTROS, which found itself alone in court in the end, called this into question. Nevertheless, the Court did not go along with this and held that it is not unusual for a claim to be brought first in summary proceedings and later in proceedings on the merits. According to the Court, a preliminary review in summary proceedings can be called into question again by a party in proceedings on the merits. Therefore, there is no abuse of law and the Court will depart from the customary rate when deciding on the attorney's fees.
