Question juridique clé
Whether a request for free legal aid with appointed counsel becomes moot when the applicant prevails in the proceedings.
Solution extraite
If the legal aid request is not obviously unfounded in light of the applicant’s financial situation, any party compensation owed by the opponent should be awarded directly to the applicant’s lawyer under § 82(2) ZPO; the lawyer may then collect it and, if necessary, request a court order for non-collectability.
Motifs extraits
This avoids unnecessary transfers through the client and allows the lawyer to enforce the compensation directly. It also avoids complications such as set-off by the opposing party, so there is no need to examine whether a declaration of set-off amounts to non-collectability.