The appellate court today dismissed the lawsuit regarding the ownership of the Fant's building

Prague - The Italian company Grandi Stazioni has failed for the second time in its lawsuit regarding the ownership of the Fantova building at Prague's main train station. The Municipal Court in Prague today upheld last year's ruling by the first-instance court and rejected the appeal of the Italian company Grandi Stazioni, which sought to determine that the building still belongs to Czech Railways (ČD) or the state, from which it had rented the building. The plaintiff may appeal the decision.

In the lawsuit, the company questioned the transfer of the station to SŽDC and wanted the court to rule that the station still belongs to ČD, which previously owned the building, or to the state, for which SŽDC manages the property. According to the Italian company, the transfer was flawed because the contract between ČD and SŽDC did not specify the purchase price adequately and is against European public support rules.

The first-instance court rejected the lawsuit last September, reasoning that SŽDC is the proven owner of the building, as it is listed in the land register and has paid the purchase price for the property. Grandi Stazioni appealed against this, but the appellate court today dismissed its appeal.

According to the reasoning of the appellate court, there is not enough legal interest in determining ownership since another court dispute is currently ongoing, in which the company is requesting payment of the principal and contractual penalties from SŽDC concerning the building, where the ownership issue should be resolved as a preliminary matter. The appellate court did not address the question of who the owner is.

Jiří Dukát, the legal representative for the Railway Infrastructure Administration, welcomed the court's decision and believes that it will also help in other related legal disputes that the Italian company is pursuing with SŽDC regarding the main station. He also noted that in his view, this matter is definitively resolved. "I believe this is a final decision, as it fully aligns with the case law of the Supreme Court, and thus we see no grounds for an appeal," he added.

Grandi Stazioni was supposed to have rented the main station for 30 years based on a contract from 2003, provided that it could fully renovate the entire property by October 16 of last year. However, it failed to do so, and SŽDC subsequently refused to extend the lease. This step taken by the railway administration sparked legal disputes and interrupted the renovation.

Grandi Stazioni has a total of four lawsuits against SŽDC. In addition to ownership of the historic Fantova building, Grandi Stazioni contested the transfer of the new check-in hall to the railway administration. The third lawsuit concerns compensation of more than 770 million as reimbursement for invested funds during the station's renovation. Of this amount, SŽDC paid the company 565 million crowns last year as eligible costs for the partial renovation of the station. The company then reduced its requested amount to approximately 210 million crowns. In the last lawsuit, the company claims about 1.26 billion crowns for lost profits from further renting of the station's premises.