Motieka & Audzevicius has persuaded the Supreme Court of Lithuania to reverse the ruling by the Court of Appeals to dismiss the claims by bankrupt Lithuanian national airline company FlyLAL against airBaltic and the Riga International Airport and order the case returned for reconsideration.
According to M&A, “FlyLAL claimed damages caused by airBaltic and Riga International Airport due to anticompetitive actions (prohibited agreements (Article 101 of TFEU) and abuse of dominant position (Article 102 of TFEU). The Supreme Court of Lithuania fully annulled the decision made by the Court of Appeals under which flyLAL‘s claim was dismissed and decided to refer the case back to the Lithuanian Court of Appeal for reconsideration.”
According to the firm, “the Court of Cassation stated that the part of FlyLAL’s claim for damages in connection with the prohibited agreement between respondents [was] not properly investigated and examined. The Court of Cassation also found that the Court of Appeal had improperly applied the rules on abuse of a dominant position and had failed to properly assess airBaltic’s pricing compliance with Article 102 of TFEU, leading to an incorrect assessment and examination of the claim for damages in connection with the infringement of Article 102 of TFEU.”
Previously, the court of the first instance found that the two defendants' actions were anticompetitive and awarded more than EUR 16 million in damages and interest to FlyLAL.
Motieka & Audzevicius’s team was led by Partner Ramunas Audzevicius.
