The syndicate of journalists may ultimately acquire new premises from the state

Headquarters of The New York Times (Renzo Piano Building Workshop; 2007)

Brno - The Supreme Court (NS) has given the Syndicate of Journalists a new chance for compensation for the promise made by the state in the 1960s to build a new headquarters, which has not yet been fulfilled. The Syndicate is seeking more than 300 million crowns. The District Court for Prague 1 ruled in favor of the syndicate in 2009, but the appellate Municipal Court in Prague sided with the state and deemed the claim to be time-barred. The NS has now overturned the last verdict and returned the case to the municipal court for re-examination, as reported by ČTK from the decision published in the internet database.
      "The legal assessment on which the appellate court's conclusion regarding the limitation of the right claimed in the lawsuit rests is incomplete and therefore incorrect," stated the NS panel led by chairman Petr Příhoda in the ruling. The NS decided in August without a public hearing.
      The entire dispute dates back to 1967. The then Union of Czechoslovak Journalists transferred the ownership of two of its buildings above Wenceslas Square to the state, where a new building of the Federal Assembly was later erected. In return, the state pledged to build a new headquarters for the journalistic organization in the vacant lot near Jiráskův Bridge. Until then, journalists had been granted the free use of two buildings in Pařížská Street.
      However, the new headquarters was never started. In the lot originally promised to journalists, the famous Dancing House rose after several years. Earlier, the state had negotiated with journalists regarding a plot on Nekázanka or a building above the Můstek metro station. After 1989, the syndicate attempted to regain at least one of the buildings in Pařížská (the other was returned to its rightful owner in the meantime) but was unsuccessful. Initially, the state transferred the building to the heritage protection authority, then sold it.
      "Members of post-November governments of various compositions promised during several negotiations to accept this solution as fulfillment of the contract with the state. Negotiations dragged on until the law completely abolished the institute of free use. The state then sold the property in Pařížská and the syndicate had to vacate," describes the Syndicate of Journalists on its website. A lawsuit followed, as the syndicate claims the state definitively ceased to fulfill the contract from the late 1960s.
      As early as 1991, the then state arbitration decided that the contract was being fulfilled continuously, as long as the syndicate was using the buildings in Pařížská free of charge. No timeframe for the construction of the new headquarters was set forth in the contract. The District Court for Prague 1 referred to this arbitration stance when it ruled in 2009 in favor of the syndicate's lawsuit and granted it the right to compensation equivalent to the amount needed for constructing the headquarters.
      However, the appellate Municipal Court in Prague deemed the claim to be time-barred. According to it, the two-year deadline for filing a lawsuit began running in 1996 when the Dancing House was built on the promised lot, making the fulfillment of the contract impossible. The Supreme Court did not accept this view. Even after the lot was built upon, the state could have fulfilled the contract according to the NS, either by constructing or providing a building at a different location. The Municipal Court must reconsider the case and is bound by the opinion of the Supreme Court.
      The Syndicate of Journalists is a voluntary professional association of journalists. Any active journalist, whether working in a permanent employment relationship or cooperating freely with editorial offices, can become a member. The syndicate is politically neutral and independent from ideological, religious, political, and economic state and private structures. Its current headquarters is on Senovážné Square.