The Corona victims of Ischgl can hope for compensation again. In a judgment on Monday, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Vienna overturned a first-instance judgment that had dismissed the claims of a German plaintiff for compensation for pain and suffering, healing and care costs and lost earnings. State information about impending dangers must be correct and complete, it said. This was not the case in Ischgl.
There, the media office of the office of the Tyrolean state government was still spreading in the late afternoon of March 5, 2020 that holidaymakers from Iceland suffering from Corona had been infected on the return journey on the plane, according to initial findings. At that time it was known that the first symptoms had already appeared in Ischgl in two infected people.
The OLG said that information was knowingly given that did not reflect the current status of the surveys. This is “illegal and culpable information” for which the Republic of Austria is fundamentally liable.
The Higher Regional Court referred back to the first instance and also allowed a challenge to the Supreme Court because of the fundamental legal issues.
According to the OLG decision, the subordinate court must now subsequently clarify whether the German vacationer had heard of a Corona notification from the Tyrolean government. The vacationer stayed in Ischgl from March 7th to 13th, 2020 and, according to his belief, was infected with the corona virus there. In his statement of claim, he blamed “the catastrophic mismanagement of the responsible authorities” for his infection.
The plaintiff responded with satisfaction. “The court of first instance must now examine the official liability claims in a well-founded manner. We therefore trust that the Republic of Austria will ultimately pay damages to those injured in Ischgl,” said Peter Kolba from the consumer protection association (VSV). The SAAM represents the interests of around 100 plaintiffs, all of whom had previously failed in the first instance.
In March 2020, Ischgl was also considered a hotspot for the spread of the virus because of its après-ski scene. Thousands of tourists are said to have spread the virus in parts of Europe, not least because of the sometimes chaotic conditions on their departure.
