Supreme Administrative Court: No Penalty in the Lázně Kyselka Case25/07/14 / News
KŠB represented Karlovarské minerální vody, a.s. in a successful lawsuit to cancel a penalty imposed on KMV by the State Preservation and Landmark Authority for an alleged administrative offence. The authorities alleged that KMV failed to look after, maintain and protect historic buildings in the municipality of Kyselka.
On KMV’s behalf, KŠB filed an administrative lawsuit against the Landmark Authority’s decision at the Regional Court in Plzeň, which cancelled the penalty on 31 January 2014 and returned the case to the Landmark Authority for new proceedings. The defendant (the Landmark Authority) filed a cassation complaint at the Supreme Administrative Court in Brno seeking remedy against the Regional Court in Plzen’s ruling. The Supreme Administrative Court upheld the decision to cancel the penalty.
In its reasoning, the Supreme Administrative Court stated that the Landmark Authority failed to follow the principle that punishment can be imposed only for deeds listed in the text of the decision. However, the Landmark Authority stated in the reasoning of its decision that the owner of the landmark buildings committed deeds which classified as delinquency, which however is not listed in the decision. Simply put, the owner of the building was punished for something which it did not commit according to the decision.
The Landmark Authority inadmissibly simplified the administrative proceedings since if said delinquencies were included in the decision it would be obliged to describe the particular deeds and, primarily, would have to prove that KMV actually committed such deeds. By failing to do so, the Landmark Authority substantially limited KMV’s right of defence.
The case has been returned to the Landmark Authority for re-discussion. In doing so, the authority is required to follow the opinion of the courts.