The architects' lawsuit against the National Library will be heard by the court again

Prague - The Municipal Court in Prague today annulled a ruling that required the National Library (NK) to pay the architectural studio HŠH Architekti two million crowns. The reason is a procedural error. The case related to the competition for the new library building has been returned for reconsideration to the District Court for Prague 1. It will have to address the issue of whether Czech courts can decide on international competitions.
   The studio claimed in the lawsuit that Jan Kaplický's design won in violation of the competition conditions. According to the architects, the National Library, through the jury and its representatives in the jury, did not evaluate the competition fairly. The conditions allegedly changed during the selection process.
   One of the conditions set before the first round of the competition required the architects to place the National Conservation Fund above ground, which Kaplický did not fulfill with his so-called octopus design. "The decisive question for us is whether the rules can be changed during the competition. We believe they cannot, and that is why we constantly attend these court proceedings, hoping the court will rule in our favor," said Tomáš Hradečný, the architect of the suing studio, to journalists.
   The District Court originally awarded the architectural studio 1.6 million crowns, which was the amount for the allegedly poorer placement in the competition. It also awarded over 400,000 crowns as compensation for legal costs. The National Library appealed against the verdict.
   However, according to today's ruling from the appellate court, the first-instance court committed a serious procedural error by not addressing the objection of the National Library. The objection was that Czech courts could not decide on the case because the competition was international. The subsequent order was also not delivered in writing, making it impossible to appeal against it. "There is nothing we can do about it. We had no other option but to annul that ruling," said judge Ivan Slivka while explaining the verdict.
   According to NK’s lawyer Jindra Pavlová, Czech courts should not decide on the case. "According to international competition rules, it should be international arbitrators or the International Union of Architects making the decisions. The first-instance court did not address this appeal, so it was annulled today," Pavlová told reporters. Due to this, the library was unable to present important evidence to the court, according to the lawyer.
   The studio filed their lawsuit in the autumn of 2007. Prior to that, the architects had reached out to the Office for the Protection of Competition several times, which repeatedly stated it could not assess the competition for the design; it can only do so in the case of a competition organized under the Public Procurement Act.
   Kaplický's design won in March 2007 in an architectural competition, yet was never realized. The then-president Václav Klaus opposed it, supported primarily by politicians from Prague's ODS. Kaplický suddenly passed away in January 2009.