NK is supposed to pay millions according to the court for a competition won by Kaplický

Prague - The National Library has to pay the architectural studio HŠH architects approximately 2.9 million crowns for its placement in the competition for a new library building that was to be created in Prague. This was decided today by the District Court for Prague 1. The studio claimed in its lawsuit that Jan Kaplický's design won in violation of the specified conditions, and that the jury did not evaluate the competition fairly. According to the court, the winning design should have been excluded from the competition. The verdict is not final and can be appealed.
    According to the appointed director Miroslav Rovenský, the NK will consider further legal steps. They also want to inform the founder, which is the Ministry of Culture, about the status of the court ruling.
    The studio filed a lawsuit back in the autumn of 2007. Prior to that, the architects had repeatedly turned to the Office for the Protection of Competition, which stated several times that it could not assess the competition because it was not announced according to the Public Procurement Act.
    The architects pointed out, for example, that one of the conditions set before the first round of the competition required the National Conservation Fund to be above ground, which Kaplický did not meet with his so-called octopus. "The winning design should have been excluded in the first round," stated Judge Lucie Laura Penn in the reasoning of the verdict.
    The judge awarded the architectural studio 1.6 million crowns, which represents the difference for the reward that was promised for placement in the competition. The HŠH studio finished in third place, but if Kaplický's design had been excluded from the competition, the studio would have finished in second place, which had a higher financial reward. "The client caused damage to the plaintiff because it lost the profit, which is the difference between the second and third prizes," noted Penn. The rest of the amount that the NK should pay consists of late payment interest and the costs of the court proceedings.
    The District Court for Prague 1 dealt with the case for the second time. In the first trial, it also awarded the architectural studio money. However, the NK subsequently succeeded in the appellate proceedings at the Prague City Court, which returned the case to the beginning due to a procedural error. After today's verdict, the NK's lawyer told ČTK that they would only discuss a possible further appeal with their superiors.
    Kaplický's design won in March 2007 in the architectural competition, yet it was never realized. Former President Václav Klaus opposed it, joined primarily by politicians from the Prague ODS. Kaplický died suddenly in January 2009.