Nikolaus Pitkowitz and his team succeeded in persuading the European Court of Justice to disallow the Class Action brought by Maximilian Schrems against the firm’s client Facebook. This CJEU decision is significant, as it stopped at the outset what could potentially have become the largest Austrian Class Action. Maximilian Schrems cannot bring claims of additional 75,000 Facebook users in Austria.

Nikolaus Pitkowitz, who pleaded the case on behalf of Facebook in the CJEU hearing on 19 July 2017, states: “The judgment is a great success for our team. The CJEU heeded our arguments in this highly complex matter. The swift and clearly-worded decision is thus highly welcome. It sends a strong signal against forum shopping.”

The firm represented Facebook Ireland Ltd. in these proceedings from the day the claim was brought by Maximilian Schrems in Summer 2014. The team was already successful in the courts of first and second instance. Nikolaus Pitkowitz heads the dispute resolution and arbitration practice groups and is one of Austria’s leading dispute practitioners.