Recent amendments to the Austrian Anti-Trust Act in May 2017 aim to enhance private enforcement. What has changed? In short: Improved access to confidential information for claimants / new disclosure rules Presumption that the cartel caused harm Passing-on defence effective / preferential treatment for claims from indirect purchasers, Longer limitation period. For more, please click…

If employees make mistakes, to what extent is the managing director liable for the consequences? Under general principles of Austrian law, if the victim (here: the GmbH) of a culpable act also acted negligently, this will proportionally reduce the damages for which the tortfeasor (here: the managing director) can be held liable.  The fall-back rule…

As of 1 January 2017, an interesting amendment of the Austrian Code of Criminal Procedure came into effect. The amendment effectively implements the EU Directive 2013/48/EU, regarding the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings, widens the scope of application of so called “diversion” proceedings, and adds a number of other new regulations.…

KNOETZL lawyers, Bettina Knötzl, Judith Schacherreiter, and Professor Alexander Schopper in JBl 2017,2: “Der Rückschaufehler bei der richterlichen Urteilsfindung im Schadensprozess”.  (Hindsight Bias Affecting Judicial Rulings in Civil Cases). The human brain is not able to ignore facts that are part of its available knowledge. In liability litigation proceedings judges are required, by law, to…

  Everett Dirksen, a legendary American politician of the last century was often quoted as saying: “a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”  Now, beyond quibble, the record fines in bribery and corruption cases – being almost routinely assessed or settled in a growing universe of jurisdictions –…