Corona allegations against Ischgl: plaintiffs can hope for damages again

Created: 07/25/2022, 22:32

By: Bettina Menzel

Austria, Ischgl: Winter sports enthusiasts stand in front of a sign with "Ischgl" lettering in the sunshine.

Now the Vienna Higher Regional Court has brought movement to a procedure for the 2020 Corona outbreak in Ischgl.

© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++

The Vienna Higher Regional Court sees significant procedural deficiencies in a judgment of the first instance - now vacationers who were infected with Corona in Ischgl can hope for compensation again.

Vienna – Numerous holidaymakers sued for damages after contracting Corona in the Austrian winter sports resort of Ischgl.

The question of guilt in the Ischgl case actually seemed to have already been clarified, because a tourist's claim for damages had been dismissed in January.

But the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Vienna overturned the judgment of the first instance on Monday due to significant shortcomings.

About a hundred plaintiffs can now hope for damages again.

Therefore, the Vienna Higher Regional Court sees serious flaws in the first judgment

Last January, the regional court for civil matters dismissed the complaint of a vacationer who had sued for pain and suffering, healing and care costs and his lost earnings.

According to the complaint, he accused the authorities of “catastrophic mismanagement” and therefore blamed them for his corona infection in Ischgl.

There was no illegal or culpable behavior by organs of the republic, it said at the time in the justification for the dismissal of the lawsuit.

However, the Higher Regional Court of Vienna has now found procedural deficiencies in the first instance.

Accordingly, the regional court had not clarified whether the plaintiff knew of a communication from the state of Tyrol on March 5, 2020 regarding the corona virus before his departure.

The vacationer had from the 7th to the 13th 

In the late afternoon of March 5, 2020, the Tyrolean media office reported that vacationers from Iceland with Corona had been infected on the return journey on the plane, according to initial findings.

An infection in Tyrol is therefore unlikely “from a medical point of view”, it said.

At that time it was known that the first symptoms had already appeared in Ischgl in two infected people, argues the OLG.

This is "illegal and culpable information" for which the Republic of Austria is fundamentally liable.

OLG: The first instance must clarify whether the vacationer knew the Tyrolean press release and trusted it

The Higher Regional Court referred back to the first instance.

The court must now clarify whether the vacationer knew the message, trusted it and therefore stayed in Ischgl in March 2020, the reasoning said.

The Austrian consumer protection association (VSV) rated the judgment as a success for holidaymakers who fell ill in Ischgl.

The court found that the press release from the Tyrolean state government in March 2020 was "misleadingly incorrect" and "illegal and culpable".

The SAAM represents the interests of around 100 plaintiffs, all of whom had previously failed in the first instance.

Ischgl chronology: That's why the Tyrolean winter sports resort moved into the Corona focus

At the beginning of the corona pandemic in 2020, the winter sports resort of Ischgl became the focus of attention.

The Tyrolean village was considered a virus hub, from here the corona virus apparently found its way into the whole world.

From the point of view of many local restaurateurs and those responsible, a simplification that shifted the responsibility to the winter sports resort.

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But not least because of the sometimes chaotic conditions when they left at the abrupt end of the 19/20 winter season, thousands of tourists are said to have spread the virus in parts of Europe.

The town's après-ski scene was also probably an ideal environment for the transmission of the virus.

According to research, the news magazine

speaks of up to 11,000 cases of infection associated with Ischgl.

In the following winter season 20/21, Ischgl was completely closed.

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Last year it remained exciting for a long time whether a winter season 21/22 would take place.

First, the fourth lockdown in Austria coincided exactly with the start of the ski season.

But then Austria relaxed a lift rule and finally Ischgl opened under strict conditions with a delay of about two weeks.

The positive case of a Kitzloch employee in December 2021 reminded many of the first Corona season: The après-ski bar Kitzloch reported the first official Corona case in Ischgl as early as 2020, and a little later on March 10th all après-ski had to start -Bars and then three days later close the whole ski area.

However, things were different in the 21/22 season: while masks were still compulsory at the beginning, there were distance rules and proof of vaccination had to be shown in many places, Corona seemed almost forgotten at the end of the winter season in Ischgl.

The fact that the judgment is now being reopened brings the topic of Corona back to the small winter sports resort

.