Situation:
The client, a housing cooperative, sought legal protection in a dispute with the owners of an apartment building in which the cooperative uses apartments in the building’s superstructure encumbered by an easement pursuant to Act No. 42/1992 Coll. (the Transformation Act).
Client’s Request:
The task was to ensure the operation of a historic elevator serving the building’s superstructure, which the owners had shut down, making it significantly harder for the housing cooperative to use the apartments. The owners refused, arguing that the elevator could no longer be put back into operation and that a new one would have to be built, which they claimed they could not be obligated to do.
Our Solution:
We conducted a thorough analysis of the historical context, expert literature, and case law of the Supreme Court. However, since this was a previously unresolved situation, we had to file two appeals to the Supreme Court, and only in the course of the third appeal proceedings (by the owners) was it definitively determined that the client’s claim was justified.
Result:
In the judgment of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic, file no. 22 Cdo 530/2021, dated April 28, 2021, it was determined that the historical circumstances indicate that the conditions are met to impose the obligation on the defendants to put the elevator into operation.