Supreme Court rules in favor of Grandi Stazioni in half-billion crown dispute over Prague Central Station

The law firm Weinhold Legal, which represents Grandi Stazioni in the case, reported on the Supreme Court’s judgment on its Facebook page.

“The Supreme Court has confirmed that the client Grandi Stazioni, successfully represented by us, is entitled to half a billion crowns from the State Railway Administration in connection with the revitalization of Prague Central Station. This is already the second NS decision in favor of our client in connection with this project,” stated Weinhold Legal.

SŽ appealed to the Supreme Court at the beginning of May, when the Prague City Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the District Court for Prague 1. It decided that the state-owned company would not receive the money back from the Italian company.

The dispute is related to the reconstruction of the building of Prague’s main railway station. Grandi Stazioni asked SŽ to reimburse the investments made in the reconstruction. According to Economic newspaper (HN), which drew attention to the lawsuit, the administration paid the company almost half a billion crowns, but later came to the conclusion that the company was not entitled to the money.

Grandi Stazioni first filed a lawsuit in which she demanded over 700 million crowns, but the administration paid her only about half a billion crowns, HN reported. Because of the remaining claim and the contractual penalty, the company therefore filed a lawsuit with the District Court for Prague 1. The court rejected it, but the appeals panel decided in December 2019, according to HN, that the administration paid the money legitimately.

In the meantime, however, the railway administration filed a lawsuit, which was decided by the court at the beginning of May, and in which it requested the return of the money paid. It was here that the court rejected, referring to the previous decision of the appeals panel.

Meanwhile, in the first dispute, the Supreme Court overturned the original judgments, the District Court for Prague 1 is thus re-examining it.

Grandi Stazioni was to have the main station leased for 30 years under a 2003 contract. Part of the contract was a condition to reconstruct the building by October 16, 2016. However, the Italian company did not fulfill this and the Railway Administration, now the Railway Administration, subsequently refused to extend the lease.

The Italian company filed several lawsuits in connection with Prague’s main railway station. In October 2018, the Court of Appeal dismissed the lawsuit to determine the ownership of the historic part of the station – the Fanta building. Another lawsuit related to damages of 1.2 billion crowns, which the Italians are demanding for not renewing the lease. The court also rejected this lawsuit last year.