Legal Q&A · 14

Litigation & Damages — questions and answers.

15 answered questions on a subject we work on. Find related services in the catalogue: Litigation & Damages.

Answered by , Czech and Slovak attorney, admitted to the Slovak and Czech Bars (SAK 300422 · ČAK 19654).

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Questions about Litigation & Damages

  1. An enforcement officer has listed a machine at our customer’s premises that still belongs to us. How do we get it back? An asset that belongs to you can be excluded from enforcement. However, you must assert and prove your right to it yourself. In Slovakia, you lodge an objection with the enforcement officer, which suspends enforcement against the asset; if the enforcement creditor insists on enforcement, the court decides on the basis of an action. In Czechia, you must apply to the enforcement officer to remove the asset from the inventory within 30 days of learning that it was listed and, if unsuccessful, bring an action to exclude the asset. Exclusion releases the asset from enforcement, but its return by the customer is governed by your contract with them.
  2. The debtor is selling off assets during the dispute. Can they be frozen before judgment? Yes, the court can do so if you substantiate both your claim and a specific concern that enforcement will be jeopardised. For a monetary claim, the first option is a security measure by which the court creates a security interest over the debtor’s assets. It will prohibit dealings with particular assets only if the purpose cannot be achieved otherwise. The court may decide without hearing the debtor. However, if the measure ceases to have effect for a reason other than your success on the merits or satisfaction of your claim, you must compensate the debtor for the damage it caused. In Czechia, you apply for an interim measure and must generally lodge security no later than the day you file the application.
  3. We lost an arbitration. Can we challenge the arbitral award in court? Yes, but not by way of an appeal. A court may set aside an arbitral award only on the grounds listed in the legislation, for example an invalid arbitration agreement, a decision beyond the scope of the arbitration clause, or denial of an opportunity to present your case. It does not assess whether the arbitrators decided the dispute correctly. In Slovakia, an action must be filed within 60 days of service of the award; in Czechia, an application must be filed within 3 months of service of the award. In neither country does filing itself stay enforcement. You must ask the court for a stay.
  4. Someone filed agreements transferring our properties with the land register, but we did not sign them. What should we do? Act immediately, before the district office decides on registration. Approval becomes final on the day it is issued, and the Act expressly excludes appeal, reopening and review outside appeal proceedings. While the proceedings remain pending, it is possible to secure their suspension and a notice in the register. After approval, the only remaining route is a court claim and litigation that can last years.
  5. We are being sued for a contractual penalty for each day of delay. Can the court reduce it? It can, but not automatically. In commercial relationships, Section 301 of the Commercial Code allows a court to reduce an excessively high contractual penalty, but this is an exceptional intervention in freedom of contract. Where a daily rate is agreed, a high accumulated total does not itself mean the penalty is excessive: the rate and circumstances when the obligation was breached are decisive. The defence therefore rests on specific assertions and evidence, rather than an impression of the final amount.
  6. The customer is using the works but has not signed the handover record and refuses to pay. What can we do? The precise wording of the agreement is decisive. If signing a handover record is agreed as a condition of handing over the works, courts have long held that without it the works have not been handed over and no entitlement to the price has arisen, even if the customer uses them. In 2025, Czech case law began denying protection to parties invoking the agreed form dishonestly; Slovak courts have not yet adopted that shift. New agreements should therefore include deemed handover.
  7. The works are defective. Can we claim damages as well as a price reduction? Yes, but the claims must be kept distinct. What can be obtained through defect remedies, such as repair, a price reduction or replacement performance, cannot be claimed again as damages. Consequential losses not covered by the reduction, such as profits lost during production downtime or costs caused by the defect in dealings with your customers, are claimed separately as damages. Note the statutory limit: a price reduction excludes lost profits arising from the very missing characteristic to which the reduction relates.
  8. The managing director caused the company loss, but the company is not suing. Can a member bring the claim? Yes. If the company does not pursue its own claims, typically because the wrongdoer is also its managing director or has majority support, any member may bring a claim on the company's behalf under Section 122(3) of the Commercial Code. Any recovery belongs to the company, rather than the member bringing the action. That member bears the litigation costs and is entitled to reimbursement on success. The action alone does not address the director remaining in office, so it is usually combined with other steps.
  9. We signed an agreement with an arbitration clause. Can the dispute still be brought before an ordinary court? In a business-to-business relationship, lack of jurisdiction must be raised promptly during the arbitration. If the tribunal makes a preliminary ruling confirming jurisdiction, an application to the court must be filed within 30 days after delivery of that ruling; an action to set aside the award generally has a 60-day period from delivery and is limited to statutory grounds. Enforcement review is narrower and does not replace a missed objection that the arbitration agreement is invalid or non-existent. An application to stop enforcement filed within 15 days after notice has suspensive effect, but it must rely on a permissible enforcement ground.
  10. Our company did not read a judgment in its electronic mailbox. Is it still treated as served? Generally yes. A legal entity's electronic mailbox is activated for service by law, and a judgment is served personally: service occurs when the delivery receipt is confirmed or, at the latest, when the 15-day collection period expires, even if nobody opened the message. The appeal period runs from service, after which the judgment becomes final. Later remedies are narrow and require proof of objective reasons, so monitoring the mailbox is cheaper than explaining afterwards.
  11. I lent money, but the other party says it was a gift. Who has to prove what? You prove that the money actually passed from your assets to the other party; you do not have to prove the absence of a reason for them to keep it. Anyone claiming the payment was a gift must prove that the donor intended to give the money without consideration. If no gift or other legal basis is established, the payment is unjust enrichment and must be returned. Evidence of the parties' intentions therefore decides the dispute, which is why loans should be documented.
  12. The debtor paid only after we filed a claim. Can we withdraw it without losing our costs? Yes, if you explain the withdrawal properly and provide evidence of payment. Payment after filing means the defendant procedurally caused the discontinuance, and the court then awards costs to you. If you withdraw without explanation, you risk the court attributing procedural responsibility to you and awarding costs to the defendant. The contents of the submission are therefore decisive, rather than the act of withdrawal alone.
  13. We want an arbitration clause in a commercial contract. What must it contain in order to be valid and usable? The clause must be in writing and must state clearly which disputes under which contract are to be resolved in arbitration. It matters just as much to determine who will decide: a permanent arbitration court, which in Slovakia may be established only by a chamber set up by statute, by the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee or by a national sports association, or ad hoc arbitrators with a clear procedure for their appointment. Add the place and language of the proceedings and the governing law; review of an award by a further arbitrator is possible only if you agree it in the arbitration agreement itself.
  14. Can we put an arbitration clause in our standard terms for consumers? No. In Slovakia a dispute with a consumer may be resolved in arbitration only on the basis of a separate consumer arbitration agreement, which is separate in content and in form from the purchase contract or the standard terms and names a permanent arbitration court entered in the Ministry’s list. Even such an agreement does not prevent the consumer from bringing an action before a court, and the trader cannot effectively object that the court lacks jurisdiction where consumer arbitration proceedings have not yet begun. Czech law excludes disputes under consumer contracts from arbitration altogether.
  15. We have no registered trademark. Can we stop a competitor from using a similar name or logo? Often yes. The Commercial Code treats the creation of a likelihood of confusion as unfair competition, including the use of a business name or of a distinctive designation of an undertaking already lawfully used by another competitor; registration of a trademark is not a precondition. You will, however, have to show that you used the sign earlier, that customers associate it with you, and that the competitor’s name or logo is apt to confuse them. Do not wait: if the competitor applies to register a similar sign as a trademark, you must also defend yourself in proceedings before the Industrial Property Office.

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