Court: Toilet Emergencies Must Be Taken Into Consideration

The bathroom or the bench?

That was the dilemma faced by a German man who had an appointment with the Social Court in the state of Baden-Württemberg about his disability pension late last month. He was supposed to face the judge at 10:20 a.m., but an overstimulated digestive tract had the man spending much more time than usual on the toilet.

He called the court early that morning explaining his predicament of being bound to the porcelain bowl, but got little sympathy. He was told his appointment could not be postponed.

The queasy man finally made it to the courtroom at 10:35, only to find his case had been decided in his absence. The court had begun proceedings at 10:23 and seven minutes later the gavel fell -- despite the diarrhea, no mercy was shown.

However, the Federal Social Court, based in the city of Kassel, saw this case of bowel-related lateness in another light. It ruled on Friday that the lower Social Court has to extend the current 15-minute tardiness time limit to 30 minutes, if the person in question is having "special difficulties" making the appointment -- the runs falls into that category. Otherwise, the court said, an individual's due process could be undermined.

The higher court ruled that the court Baden-Württemburg must hear the disabled pensioner's case again.