Highways, the class action of Altroconsumo: “Together we ask for justice and compensation”
Two years after the launch of the campaign against Autostradee, the situation on the Italian motorways has not improved at all: on the contrary. Here because Other consumption started one new investigation, which revealed that today, along the motorway network, there is a construction site open every 12 km (two years ago there was one every 18 km). In fact, since 2018, Autostrade has littered the motorway network with construction sites and works in an attempt to recover the lost investments in infrastructure in the previous 9 years. A behavior that ended up in the spotlight too AntitrustThat sanctioned Autostrade with 5 million euros in March 2021 (and subsequently for default in May 2022) for not having lowered the tolls on some motorway sections made critical by the numerous extraordinary interventions in recent years. Late and poorly managed interventions, which have created countless disruptions to motorists and, in some cases, even put their safety at risk.
Autostrade, a class action to ask for justice
For these reasons, in 2021 Altroconsumo decided to launch a class action against Autostrade for inadequate verification of the state of maintenance of the motorway network; inadequate planning of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance activities; failure to carry out the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance activities necessary to keep the infrastructure in good condition; failure to adopt, at least until 13 July 2021, a system that would allow consumers/users to easily obtain a refund of the toll paid, in the face of a reduction in the quality of the motorway service received.
A class action which currently has over 100,000 members and which is continuing its process in the courtrooms of the Court of Rome: after the postponement of the first hearing scheduled for February, a new hearing, in fact, has been set for next 11 September (subject to other postponements). In fact, before the Judge we will ask for justice and a compensation of 220 euros for all those who traveled on a motorway until at least May 2021.
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Class action by Altroconsumo against prices and construction sites. Here’s who gets the compensation and how much it is
Anyone who has paid can participate in the action at least one motorway toll until 18 May 2021. On 18 May 2021, in fact, the legislation governing the institution of the class action in Italy changed; since the action started on the basis of the rules previously in force, it includes the inconvenience suffered by travelers only up to this date. To calculate the compensation, Altroconsumo once again considered Istat data: each family spends 88 euros a year on motorway tolls. If we multiply this expense by the last 10 years of bad management of the motorway network, we arrive at 880 euros and we decided to ask the Judge to recognize 25% of this amount on an equitable basis (i.e. according to his free assessment), in favor of anyone who has suffered inconvenience on the motorway: i.e. an average compensation of 220 euros.
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