The Court of Appeal is dealing for the fourth time with the dispute over the reconstruction of the Cubist house

photo: U(P)M

Prague - The Prague Municipal Court began discussing the prolonged dispute over an amount of 60 million crowns with interest today for the fourth time, related to the reconstruction of the cubist house U Černé Matky Boží. The lawsuit was filed by the Seychellois company WBC Capital, the legal successor of the bankrupt Konstruktiva, which carried out the repairs on the building. WBC is claiming the money from the State Cultural Fund (SFK). In January, the district court awarded the company only a fraction of the requested sum - 3.5 million crowns with interest.

Chairman of the appellate panel Jan Klášterka reminded that the roots of the dispute date back nearly 30 years. Both parties appealed the current ruling; however, the fund only disagrees with the determined compensation for legal costs and is otherwise satisfied with the verdict.

"The State Cultural Fund considers the ruling to be genuinely high-quality and factually correct after all this long time," stated the legal representative of the SFK, Eva Zemanová. She emphasized that a quality expert opinion regarding the reconstruction of the house was finally processed, the author of which actually visited the property and examined it from the roof to the basement.

WBC disagrees with the conclusions of the opinion, according to which the reconstruction had defects - particularly leakage into the glass roofing. Its lawyer Dan Modlitba stated today that the expert chose the wrong method and evaluated the situation solely against WBC. The company also demands that default interest be calculated not only from the year 2002, as the fund allegedly knew about the claims from the reconstruction at least three years earlier. Klášterka's panel will decide on the appeals on November 19.

The house U Černé Matky Boží underwent reconstruction in the early 90s. WBC purchased the receivable from Konstruktiva - Holding against the SFK in 2009 for 4.3 million crowns. Subsequently, the Seychellois company legally sought a total of 81.6 million from the fund, which amounted to a total of 300 million crowns with interest. The courts have already definitively rejected the lawsuit concerning the amount of 21.6 million, leaving only the claim for 60 million to be decided.

The appellate Prague municipal court annulled the previous three rulings in the dispute. For the third time, it ordered the District Court for Prague 6 to replace the judge and also to prepare an expert opinion to clarify how the reconstruction had increased the value of the house U Černé Matky Boží. The new judge Petra Andršová then relied on this opinion prepared by the expert institute Profi-ten. According to it, the reconstruction increased the value of the house by 19 million, and it was precisely by this amount that the SFK, according to the judge, unjustly enriched itself at the expense of Konstruktiva.

From the non-final verdict, which ČTK has access to, it further appears that the court upheld the fund's objection and set off against the amount of unjust enrichment the receivable of the fund based on the funds that Konstruktiva earned from the rental of the House U Hybernů from 1993 to 1996. After deducting this amount, the fund is to pay WBC 3.5 million with default interest.

The SFK has long refused to pay the amount demanded by WBC, labeling the amount of the receivable as disputed. According to it, the reconstruction was not properly handed over and invoices related to the costs were not presented. Who the ultimate owner of the Seychellois company WBC is remains unclear. Media have previously linked the company with billionaire Petr Speychal.