FACC’s lost claims for damages against ex-CEO Walter Stephan are final. The aircraft supplier has allowed the appeal period against the written judgment to expire. The company confirmed this yesterday, Friday, to the OÖ Nachrichten.
At the end of November 2019, FACC’s lawsuit in the amount of ten million euros against former CEO Walter Stephan was dismissed. This judgment by the regional court in Ried im Innkreis was preceded by thirteen intensive days of civil proceedings, in which both FACC and Stephan were represented by several lawyers.
As reported several times, FACC was the victim of a scam in 2015. A “fake president” posed as the head of the company to the accounting department and demanded the transfer of 54 million euros. The Innviertler group blamed the former CEO Stephan, among others, for the fact that this amount was actually transferred. He had not installed an adequate control system and was therefore responsible for the damage.
The judge dismissed the application on the last day of the trial to extend the claim to 43 million euros before dismissing FACC’s claim for the ten million euros originally asserted. Stephan cannot be accused of a surveillance violation. “After all, FACC was like his baby,” said the judge.
As reported, this first judgment held up to the Supreme Court (OGH). However, this only applied to the partial judgment of ten million euros.
The regional court in Ried had to decide again on the remaining approximately 33 million euros. Since the responsible judge had changed in the meantime, FACC wanted to have the procedure carried out again. However, the court did not share this view.
On December 13, 2021, FACC and Stephan met again before judge Andreas Rumplmayr. The negotiation did not last long. Rumplmayr also dismissed the rest of the lawsuit, arguing that the 2019 judgment was binding.
The fact that FACC has now allowed the appeal period to expire is interesting in that there had previously been an application for rejection against the responsible judge because of his legal opinion. Although this was rejected by the responsible senate of the regional court in Ried, it could have been fought with legal remedies. But that didn’t happen either.
This means that the legal dispute between FACC and Stephan – at least in this matter – has ended with legal effect.
Stephan’s lawsuit still pending
Because another chapter of the cause is still unclear. According to information from OÖN, proceedings are still pending at the labor court in Ried. Here, in turn, Stephan appears as a plaintiff against his former employer.
It is about claims under labor law as a result of his dismissal, which Stephan believes was unjustified.
Source: Nachrichten
