Schoenherr helps Electrica win EUR 46m administrative contentious litigation
Schoenherr Romania successfully assisted Societatea Energetica Electrica (Electrica) in winning a long-term administrative contentious litigation case, with a stake worth EUR 46m. Electrica filed this case seven years ago against the Romanian Court of Accounts, a state authority charged with conducting financial audits of the management of state and public resources, with a view to obtaining the annulment of an administrative decision by the authority claiming that Electrica had misused company funds.
Schoenherr assisted Electrica in challenging the decision issued by the Court of Accounts both in the administrative phase and in contentious administrative litigation. In July 2023, the firm’s dispute resolution team successfully obtained a positive court ruling for the client, which became final in April 2024. The court partially annulled the Court of Account’s decision, maintaining only a payment obligation amounting to about EUR 1,000 from a total of EUR 46m.
„We are happy to see this high-stakes court case successfully resolved for our client,” said Schoenherr partner Iustin Armașu who, together with office managing partner Sebastian Guțiu, co-heads the local dispute resolution practice in Romania. „Administrative contentious litigation is one of our key areas of expertise in dispute resolution. We believe our team’s track record in this type of dispute, as well as our excellent collaboration with the Electrica team throughout the case, have contributed to this positive outcome.”
Serving over 3.9m users, Electrica Group is a key player in the energy sector, active in the distribution, supply, production and energy services segments. The company has been listed on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges since 2014.
The Schoenherr team advising Electrica in this matter was led by Iustin Armașu (partner), with Andrei Greceanu (attorney at law) playing an important role in the case team and Alexandra Huza (senior attorney at law) handling key aspects of the project’s initial phases.
Schoenherr is a leading regional law firm, with 15 offices and four country desks in Central and Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe. The firm has been active in Romania since 1996, providing full-service legal advice to local and multinational companies. Schoenherr și Asociații SCA is ranked as a top tier law firm in dispute resolution by both major legal directories that survey this sector of the Romanian legal market (Chambers and Partners, Legal500).
