Austria
Unless a dispute is settled, proceedings usually end with a judgment (Urteil). Judgments are final decisions on the subject matter of the dispute and deal with material legal issues raised in the parties' written statements and the oral hearings. The written judgment will be distributed to the parties. Generally, parties will have four weeks after notification of the judgment to file an appeal against it. A judgment may be appealed on points of fact, law, or procedure. If the judgment is handed down in writing, the four week period for bringing an appeal starts to run from the day following the handing down. Oral judgments are very rare. If, however, the judgment is issued orally at the end of the hearing and in the presence of both parties, the party wishing to file an appeal must enter a notice of appeal either:
- orally immediately after the judgment is pronounced; or
- in writing within two weeks calculated from the day following service of the transcript of the hearing.
The jurisdiction of the appellate court depends on whether the appeal was made against a decision of a District Court or a Regional Court. First instance judgments given by the District Courts can be appealed to the Regional Courts, whereas first instance judgments given by the Regional Courts must be appealed to one of the four Higher Regional Courts. Appeals against first instance judgments and some appeals against second instance judgments have suspensive effect.
Not all cases can be appealed to the Supreme Court. Only legal questions of considerable importance can be referred to the Supreme Court. There are also restrictions relating to the amount in dispute. The second instance court has jurisdiction to decide whether a matter can be appealed a second time, i.e. to the Supreme Court. An appeal to the Supreme Court usually requires a case to contain a legal question of considerable importance to ensure legal unity, security, and development, as well as an amount in dispute of more than EUR5,000. If the court declines the opportunity to appeal for a second time, there is still an opportunity to file an extraordinary second appeal to the Supreme Court. An extraordinary second appeal requires an amount in dispute of more than EUR30,000 or the dispute to be of a particular nature, such as family law or labor and social law. Second appeals must be filed within four weeks from the date of the appeal decision. Appeals are typically resolved within four to six months after the appeal of the first instance judgment is filed. Supreme Court decisions might take up to 12 months.
On appeal, no new claim or other objection may be raised. The parties may only submit new facts in the first instance. The appeal proceedings are limited to a review of the facts and submissions of the parties up to the end of the first instance proceedings. As such, the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction is purely legal in nature.
The resolutions of a court (Beschlüsse) can also be appealed. These resolutions are not judgments and typically concern the conduct of the proceedings and procedural issues. The appeal must be brought against resolutions of the competent court of first or second instance within 14 days of the relevant resolution generally, but some appeals against special resolutions of the court can be made within four weeks of the relevant resolution.