The court dismissed the lawsuit of Prague regarding the insurance for the Industrial Palace

Prague - The District Court for Prague 6 today dismissed Prague's lawsuit regarding the insurance for the burned Industrial Palace. Prague requested 1.2 billion crowns from Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna and Uniqa insurance. According to the court, however, Prague is not the party that could have demanded the insurance payout, and thus the court sided with the insurers. Today's decision is not final, and the capital city will appeal against it.
    The insurers assessed the damage to the monument, which was damaged by fire in October 2008, at 181 million crowns. This amount has already been paid out. However, Prague, as the owner, was not satisfied and filed a lawsuit in June 2009 for that reason. The demanded amount was then reduced by the already paid 181 million crowns.
    The tenant of the Exhibition Center at the time of the fire, as well as the party who brokered the insurance contract, was Incheba Praha. Nevertheless, the capital city claims that it was the so-called authorized person, i.e., the one entitled to receive the insurance payout due to the insured event. On the contrary, the insurers state that Prague is not entitled to demand the insurance.
    "The plaintiff (Prague) was not specified as an authorized person in the insurance contract. It was not expressly stated there, and in the opinion of this court, it was not stated generally either, as jurisprudence permits," stated Judge Aleš Nezdařil. According to him, from the general insurance conditions and the correspondence between Prague and Incheba, it is not evident that the capital city was an authorized person, as Prague's legal representative Jitka Sailerová tried to convince the court.
    "Whether an authorized person is designated in the insurance contract is a substantial element of the contract and should be specified there," said the judge, adding that if it were not specified, the contract would have been invalid from the outset.
    "This court found that the plaintiff did not prove that it is an authorized person and did not prove that any authorized person was designated in this case," noted Nezdařil. He added that a similar deficiency cannot be remedied even by an additional agreement between Prague and Incheba that the parties concluded. The already paid 181 million is considered by the judge to have been paid voluntarily.
    "We have no choice but to appeal," said Deputy Mayor Ivan Kabický (ODS) to ČTK.
    The capital city intends to use the insurance money for the reconstruction of the Industrial Palace. The historical building will be completed according to the design by architect Jakub Cigler and his studio Cigler Marani Architects a.s. The company will prepare designs for the completion of the burned wing, the construction of an underpass under the central part, as well as the adjustment of the building's surroundings.
    According to previous statements by Kabický, construction could begin at the start of 2014, with costs estimated at 1.6 billion.