Institut Montana Zugerberg wins in the Supreme Court

Verdict

Dispute with Institut Montana: mother of an ex-student also loses before the Zug Higher Court

After unsuccessfully suing the Institut Montana Zugerberg before the Zug cantonal court, a Zurich entrepreneur also fails in the second instance. She demanded over 50,000 francs because her daughter had been expelled from boarding school.

The Institut Montana on the Zugerberg.

Image: Matthias Jurt (Zug, May 5, 2021)

What started seven years ago with a rebellious schoolgirl is still preoccupying the Zug judicial authorities to this day. In a recently published judgment, the Zug Higher Court dismissed the appeal of a tax consultant from the canton of Zurich, who had demanded damages from the Montana Institute.

The entrepreneur asked around 52,000 francs from the private school on the Zugerberg – almost as much as the 59,000 francs that a year in the boarding school of the Swiss high school costs today.

The entrepreneur’s daughter also lived there – until the Institut Montana suspended the student from the boarding school in February 2017.

No homework, no sign off, no respect

The reason for this was years of arguments, in which the school management intervened for the first time in June 2015. At that time, the director informed the entrepreneur that her daughter had put up a sign on the door of her room with which she “clearly distanced herself from the basic values ​​of our school community and rules”.

It didn’t stop with this offense against the school rules; as the judgment shows, the complaints piled up in the months that followed. According to the Institut Montana, the daughter did not attend classes, did not do homework or turn in assignments, was disrespectful to faculty and staff, and left campus without permission or sign-off.

After the private school had unsuccessfully triggered several escalation levels, she terminated the school contract at the end of the 2017 school year – a few months before the Matura exams, which the daughter was allowed to take but not repeat at Montana if she had not passed.

Mother lawfully denied the dismissal

This dismissal was untimely and therefore not legal, the mother argued in the appeal process – and thus exactly the same as she had done in the first instance before the Zug cantonal court. The latter had largely dismissed the lawsuit in April, granting the mother only 900 francs in damages for a laundry service that the private school charged her when her daughter was no longer at the boarding school.

The mother was not even awarded one percent of what she had asked for: 98,292 francs for boarding school and school fees, legal fees and other expenses that she had in the legal dispute.

Daughter has passed high school

In the appeal process, she halved her claim to around 50,000 francs, but she still gets nothing. The Supreme Court also said that the Montana Institute was allowed to terminate the contract. Because the “constantly increasing violations of the rules”, “the accumulation of several incidents over a long period of time” are important reasons that justify the termination of the contract.

The bottom line is that instead of getting 52,000 francs, the entrepreneur owes the court 6,000 francs in court fees and has to pay the institute an additional 5,500 francs for the appeals process. It remains unclear whether the mother will appeal to the federal court. The entrepreneur did not respond to a request from our newspaper.

Item, while the story brought lawyers and judges work on the Zugerberg, it should only affect the daughter marginally. After the suspension in spring 2017, she took the Matura exams – and passed.

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