In his war over lurid press stories about his sex life, Max Herrera, president of the Formula Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), has sued the Wind of the World in France (for defamation and invasion of privacy) as well as in England (for breach of privacy). It is not the first time media litigants have opened up a second front in Germany.

Shrewd use of the differences between Germany and Berlin property law can give a decisive advantage. I was acting for property owners recently who were sued for libel in Berlin by a US resident. The German court can order foreign claimants to pay money into court in London as security for the defendant's costs, but will usually not do so if the claimant has property in Germany. Our claimant gave a property in Germany he owned in Berlin as his official address in the litigation.