There was not only war. Confrontation also arose in Ebringen between the St Gall administration and the citizens. The construction of the manor house in a time of war upset many people. Worse still, Governor Lukas Grass ruled in many respects in an absolutist manner. But meanwhile, in 1712 the Abbey had lost all of its Swiss territory in the Toggenburg War. In May 1712 Abbot Buergisser was exiled to Neuravensburg, the abbey's territory north of Lake Constance in the Holy Roman Empire, where he died in 1717. So the abbey's position in Ebringen was also very weak, but Governor Grass' position in the abbey's hierarchy was very powerful, as he now ruled the only area controlled by the abbey besides Neuravensburg. The abbot sent Lukas Grass to Vienna in July 1712 for negotiations with the Austrian government to help the abbey regain its possessions. Grass returned soon after without substantial success. But 25 citizens of Ebringen took advantage of the abbey's disastrous situation in Switzerland and Grass' absence. They sued the St Gall administration in the court for provincial estates of Anterior Austria against the rights of local authorities towards the people. Governor Grass was not willing to compromise and eventually won the case. In 1714 the citizens of Ebringen had to accept villeinage in a declaration of submission under St Gall rule. Governor Lukas Grass had also expanded the jurisdiction of the abbey, as the declaration states St Gall as first instance of jurisdiction in all matters between citizens and local authorities. This "judicium primae instantiae" was a unique privilege of all "Breisgauer Landstaende" in the Austrian law system. As s in future a lawsuit like the one of 1712 would have to be held in St Gall, not in an Austrian court, the submission drastically reduced Austrian control over Ebringen. The court for provincial estates in Anterior Austria confirmed the declaration of submission on 24 January 1715.