Dispute over night-time cowbell ringing occupies the courts
Keystone-SDA
The nocturnal ringing of the bells of cows on a nearby farm will continue to bother two landowners in canton Fribourg. The Federal Court has rejected their application for the bells to be taken off at night.
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The two landowners brought an action before the civil court to have the bells removed from the animals on the pastures adjacent to their property between 10pm and 7am. They kept a noise diary and took noise measurements themselves.
The civil court partially approved their requests, but the Fribourg cantonal court overturned this decision. It referred the case back to the civil court so that a noise report could be drawn up. It refused to issue precautionary measures. This is the result of a ruling by the Federal Court published on Thursday.
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Correct preliminary decision
The opponents of the cowbells tried to have the precautionary measures ordered by the cantonal authorities during the ongoing proceedings before Switzerland’s highest court. Specifically, they wanted the bells to be removed from the animals at night.
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However, nothing will come of this. The Federal Court confirmed that the cantonal court had not violated the appellants’ right to be heard and had correctly assessed the “private noise report” they had prepared. There was therefore nothing to criticise about the rejection of precautionary measures.
For this decision, the two landowners represented by a lawyer have to pay court costs of CHF4,000 ($4,550) to the Federal Court.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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