No compensation from City of Warsaw for (re)privatisation of Hotel Polonia

DZP's Real Estate Practice have successfully represented the City of Warsaw in a case brought by Strabag SE for the payment of compensation of approx. EUR 27 million for alleged breaches that were supposedly committed when the City of Warsaw concluded and implemented a privatisation agreement for Hotele Warszawskie Syrena sp. z o.o. in connection with reprivatisation (decree) claims brought by the former owners to the Hotel Polonia real estate at Al. Jerozolimskie in Warsaw.

Strabag’s claim was dismissed in its entirety at both instances, and the final judgment handed down by the Court of Appeal in Warsaw (VII AGa 49/19) was not subject to a Supreme Court last resort appeal. The case was multi-faceted and complex, and the Courts that examined it fully upheld the City of Warsaw's arguments that there were no grounds for compensation being awarded for any of the claims raised by Strabag. It was also confirmed that the measures taken by the City of Warsaw in connection with the privatisation of Hotel Polonia were – to the extent contested by Strabag (concerning the alleged impact of the decree claims on the conclusion and implementation of the privatisation agreement) – correct and did not result in this company having suffered the losses that Strabag claimed from the City of Warsaw.

The case was conducted on DZP’s behalf by Lech Żyżylewski and Piotr Gołaszewski from our Real Estate Practice, who specialise, inter alia, in complex and unusual (court) cases involving real estate and reprivatisation issues.