Closed Class Action

Austrian Power Grid AG (APG) planned the construction and operation of a 380 kV overhead line between St. Peter (Upper Austria) and Tauern (Salzburg).

Landowners whose properties are affected by the overhead line must cede land for the construction of high-voltage pylons for the operation of the line to APG, or grant an easement for the lines. If no amicable solution is reached with APG, the landowners will be expropriated or the easement will be compulsorily granted.

The compulsory granting is legal – the easement/expropriation cannot be prevented in these cases. However, the compulsory granting allows for the challenging of the amount of the easement compensation/expropriation amount.

The amount of the easement compensation/expropriation amount is determined by expert opinions from generally sworn and judicially certified experts. These expert opinions often do not comply with constant supreme court jurisprudence and disregard essential aspects for the calculation of expropriation compensation. This occasionally results in an additional claim that must be asserted in court against the company constructing the line. These expert opinions and the potential legal pursuit of the claims were financed by AdvoFin.

The collective procedure was concluded in June 2021. The expert opinions financed by AdvoFin did not show any additional claim for the landowners. They therefore did not have to expend any financial resources to examine their potential claim.