The approximately one thousand users who, in 2017, had joined the class action against Abbanoa will finally have satisfaction. After years of legal battles, hearings, sentences and appeals, the Court of Appeal of Cagliari has accepted the last appeal, proposed by Adiconsum and the "Comitato dei cittadini di Castelsardo" , who had promoted the class action, remedying the error of the Court of Cagliari which had established in only 26 months, the limitation period within which one could request the reimbursement. The Court of Appeal instead re-established that the right of citizens to be able to request compensation expires in ten years . Therefore, all 753 days of non-potability are included, well over two years out of five , certified by the ASL and by the mayor's ordinances, which occurred in Castelsardo between 2011 and 2015. No prescription, therefore, and on with the reimbursements, set by the Court at 0.42 euros for each day of non-supply of potable water multiplied by each member of the family unit, served by the single user.
In fact, the lawsuit had asked for reimbursement both for the "pecuniary damage", the users had in fact continued to pay for the water as drinkable while they were forced to buy bottled water , and for the "non-pecuniary" damage, that is, for the inconvenience suffered by the consumers and their families. "It was a long fight but, thanks also to Adiconsum, we never gave up. - underlines Piero Arru, promoter of the citizens' committee of volunteers who made available, free of charge, time and energy for the common battle against the water management company. We had to fight, not only legally against Abbanoa but also against the obstructionism of the then municipal administration and against the lack of trust of some fellow citizens who, given the long times of the lawsuit, doubted our good faith".
In accepting the requests formulated by the lawyer Franco Dore, the Court of Appeal also rejected the appeal proposed by Abbanoa which asked to be declared exempt from any liability , as a mere manager of the service, and to pass the costs on to Egas and, therefore, to the municipalities and the Region. On the contrary, the Court clearly stated that «Abbanoa has remained in default with respect to the service obligations and is also required to return the amount collected from users as a fixed fee during the periods in which non-potable water was supplied». The Court of Appeal also sentenced Abbanoa to pay two thirds of the costs of the trial. The methods of reimbursement to users will have to be established shortly and, in the event that there are no conciliatory agreements between the parties, the case will return to court on May 15 when the Court of Cagliari will have to pronounce a sentence of condemnation against Abbanoa, ordering compensation for the damage suffered by users and the return of the fixed fee for the periods of supply of non-potable water, using the parameters dictated by the Court of Appeal.
