Full-range dispute resolution advisory for City of Warsaw

The Law Firm Domański Zakrzewski Palinka represented the City of Warsaw in several court cases which ended successfully for our client. Over the past two months we have won positive judgments for the City in prestigious civil and administrative cases.

In March DZP won a case brought by Mobilis Sp. z o.o. in which the company claimed over PLN 40 million in compensation due to an alleged failure to organise the Warsaw bus transport market. The case was handled by lawyers in our Dispute Resolution Practice - Paweł Lewandowski and Maciej Orkusz. Other lawyers involved in the proceedings were state aid expert Anna Glapa and competition protection specialist Marta Balcerowska.

On 20 March a final judgment was issued in a case over the Warsaw referendum in which the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeal filed by a regional representative of the Law and Justice [PiS] party against the first instance judgment (Voivodship Administrative Court [VAC] in Warsaw). The VAC had found that the refusal to hold a referendum complied with the law – the City Council refused to hold a referendum, citing numerous irregularities in the organisers’ application. The following day (21 March) the VAC passed judgment in a case over a resolution of the City of Warsaw Council concerning the privatisation of SPEC [entity providing heat in the capital]. The appeal against this resolution was dismissed by the Court as the appellant did not show that its legal interests had been infringed. The judgment is not final. The case was handled by Professor Michał Kulesza, Partner in the Infrastructure and Energy Practice.

Both cases are connected with the privatisation of SPEC – the privatisation issue was one of four questions to be asked in the planned referendum (the others were: prices of City public transport tickets, water and sewage charges and nursery school fees). The background to both disputes was the risk of serious depletion of the City’s income – privatisation of SPEC, and the danger that several bank loan agreements would not be performed – prices for tickets on City public transport, and water and sewage charges. City ventures of a value of PLN 2.5 million were under threat.

On 27 March we obtained a judgment, favourable for the City, in the Court of Appeal in Warsaw in a case brought by Theta Investments Sp. z o.o. for remuneration for non-contractual use by the City of historical buildings in the Pałac Błękitny complex at ul. Senatorska in Warsaw. In 2009 the Regional Court in Warsaw passed a judgment in the case that was unfavourable for our client, awarding the full amount claimed to Theta. We began acting for the City at the end of February this year, a few weeks before the appeal hearing. The case was conducted on DZP's behalf by Lech Żyżylewski and Piotr Gołaszewski from our Real Estate Practice who specialise, inter alia, in reprivatisation issues, supported by Paweł Lewandowski from the Dispute Resolution Practice. Thanks to our preparation of legal argumentation that had not previously been put forward by the City, the Court of Appeal overturned the Regional Court's judgment in the part awarding Theta an amount together with statutory interest of nearly PLN 20 million and in this respect finally and non-revisably dismissed the claim. In the remaining part (a demand to be awarded a further amount of approx. PLN 20 million plus interest) the appealed judgment was overturned and in this respect was referred back to the Regional Court for re-examination. There are at present good grounds for assuming that the Regional Court, after re-examining the case, will overturn at least part of Theta's claims remaining to be examined.

On 26 April the VAC in Warsaw also dismissed an appeal filed by NSZZ Solidarność [Solidarity trade union] against a resolution adopted by the City of Warsaw Council on charges for transport services.

The Law Firm Domański Zakrzewski Palinka has also supported the City of Warsaw in investment projects – City of Warsaw – concession for works – 1,580 bus/tram shelters, arbitration proceedings – DZP wins a dispute for the City of Warsaw in the Arbitration Tribunal (against Warsaw (III) B.V. – special purpose vehicle of ING Real Estate, the dispute was over the City’s obligation to sell shares in the company Złote Tarasy) and advises on regulatory issues (rules for selling shares in city companies).