Sawmills fail in the timber dispute with a claim for damages

Created: 2022-01-20 14:29

Logs lie on the site of a sawmill.

© Armin Weigel/dpa/symbol image

Numerous sawmills in the southwest have failed in court with a claim for damages against the state of Baden-Württemberg.

A so-called compensation company of the companies is not entitled to assert claims, said the presiding judge of a civil chamber of the Stuttgart district court on Thursday.

Stuttgart - 36 companies united in the equalization company had accused the state of paying too much money for round wood between 1978 and September 2016.

The claim for damages, including interest, was around 450 million euros.

The state and its forest administration used to market wood from the state forest as well as from municipal and private forests centrally - which led to a monopoly position.

In 2015, the Federal Cartel Office classified this as a violation of competition law and prohibited the sales practice.

dpa