A court condemns ACS for "denigrating" Iberdrola taking advantage of the 'Villarejo case'

The Mercantile Court number 4 of Madrid has upheld the lawsuit for unfair competition filed by Iberdrola against ACS, after

's company disclosed in a media outlet that it was going to file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the electricity company if it was charged in the

.

The ruling states that it was an operation by ACS to "denigrate" a rival in the market, which is a violation of the law of unfair competition.

In its article 9, the rule considers an act of denigration, and therefore disloyal, "the realization or dissemination of statements about the activity, benefits, establishment or commercial relations of a third party that are capable of undermining their credit in the market, unless they are accurate, true and relevant".

"ACS's intention to sue IBERDROLA was made public two days before the presentation of IBERDROLA's results, a relevant moment for a society in which news about companies intensifies," says the judge, adding that "the On the day of publication, Iberdrola's share price fell"

"The negative fact that is transferred to the market is the decision to claim from Iberdrola an amount (2,600 million euros) that, according to the expert report provided by the plaintiff, represents 72% of Iberdrola's net profit in 2020 and that, therefore, it is of sufficient magnitude to generate a natural and logical uncertainty in the interested parties (investors, shareholders) in said company".

The sentence highlights that the news initially published in

later had repercussions abroad, which was an added damage to the reputation of the electricity company.

Rivalry

Iberdrola and ACS are currently at odds in the

, the scene of the rivalry that the presidents of both companies have professed for years.

One of its branches of the also known as

investigates the orders of the electric company to the retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo when he was still active.

Iberdrola is not charged in the case, but its renewables subsidiary and its president, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, are.

Florentino Pérez appears as the victim, who according to the investigations was the object of espionage by Villarejo, supposedly by order of the electric company.

The alleged espionage would have sought to prevent the control of Iberdrola by ACS.

In the dispute, the power company expelled the director to whom the construction company was entitled as a large shareholder, something that ACS links to Villarejo's maneuvers.

In this regard, Judge Olga Ahedo highlights that the Supreme Court endorsed the expulsion of the counselor, due to the rivalry that both companies already had in the market.

In the litigation, ACS argued that what denigrated Iberdrola was not the information that it had allegedly provided or confirmed to the media that published it, but rather the electricity company's own actions in light of what is being investigated in the Villarejo case.

The judge's response is that "the fact that IBERDROLA's reputation is affected, even significantly, by the

does not legitimize conduct suitable for increasing disrepute."

The estimate of demand does not have economic consequences, which were not claimed by Iberdrola at first.

He did want to claim them later, but the court did not allow it.

Thus, the ruling, which is subject to appeal, orders ACS "to cease the act of denigration that is the subject of this lawsuit and in any act that may harm Iberdrola's reputation."

It also orders the withdrawal of the information in the digital newspaper, together with the publication of the sentence that estimates Iberdrola's claim.

Finally, ACS must pay the costs of the procedure.

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• Jose Manuel Villarejo

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