The first person in Poland punished for the phrase “patodeweloperka”.

Mencwel recalled the story from the beginning. In 2016, Warsaw sold a plot of land constituting part of it a historic park on Kamionkowskie Błonia Elekcyjne. However, the sale took place without the required consent of the conservator of monuments. This was revealed by MJN activist Stefan Gardawski.

“Dom Development built luxury apartment buildings on one of the plots. In the years 2018-2020, Stefan publicized the case, and the Kamionek scandal was widely commented on in the media. One of the topics was the use of the road as a construction base, which was inconsistent with the contract,” he recalled. on the X Mencwel platform.

He added: “After Stefan, Miasto Jest Nasze and the media publicized this fact, the office imposed a fine on Dom Development of almost PLN 37 million (this fine was later waived due to formal errors of the city).”

READ MORE: Construction of an apartment building in Kamionek. The district imposed a fine on the developer of over PLN 36 million

However, this did not please the company, which – as Mencwel said – “in an act of revenge, decided to sue Stefan for infringement of personal rights.” The activist also described that Gardawski received a pre-court summons to his work email on the day of the MJN conference about another investment by the same developer – in Warsaw's Wola district.

According to MJN, “it was a typical SLAPP (by the definition of the Citizens' Watchdog Network – strategic lawsuits against public participation and one of the most effective tools for suppressing public debate”) aimed at punishing Stefan and discouraging him from further interest in the case.”

Mencwel also quoted one of Gardawski's tweets, which were supposed to contribute to the lawsuit. “A textbook example of mismanagement, socialization of privatization costs and profits. This city belongs to developers for whom the city hall is ready to circumvent the regulations, and the district city hall is ready to subsidize their investments with millions. And this is still during the period of sharp budget cuts…” – wrote Gardawski on ( then still) Twitter.

According to MJN activists, what is even more shocking than the lawsuit itself is that the first-instance court partially recognized Dom Development's claims as justified.

Activists said that the court did not find that a member of their association could have been intimidated. Mencwel points to another issue: that, according to the court, “the consequence could have been the loss of clients and contractors by Dom Development and as a result of the defendant's actions [klienci] “they could lose trust (….) and not buy its products.”

He also quoted the court's justification, which we also had access to: “Assuming an objective measure of assessing the infringement of personal rights, it should be noted that the defendant's statements were detrimental to the plaintiff's reputation, and their consequence could have been the actual loss of customers and contractors. As a result of the defendant's actions, they could have lost trust in the plaintiff and not to purchase its products or cooperate with it commercially. Due to the defendant's actions, the plaintiff had to submit to inspection and provide explanations. In the opinion of the Court, there were real concerns about damage to the plaintiff Company, which could affect its financial condition,” the court noted in its justification. Mencwel added a fragment of it in the entry on “on the stump” before the end of construction.

The activist also pointed out that later in the entry there are further statements by the court: that the tone of Gardowski's tweet is “mocking” and that he “insinuates that the developer obtained a financial benefit.” According to MJN, this seems irrational, especially since after they publicized this case, the city imposed a fine of almost PLN 37 million on Dom Development.

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“In the entry of October 26, 2020, the defendant insinuated that the plaintiff was improperly implementing an investment in the renovation of a public road and was obtaining a financial benefit in connection with this investment that was not due to him. The entry was constructed in a mocking tone (by using in quotation marks in relation to the word “renovates”). In the Court's opinion, the defendant's statement in public opinion may undermine trust in the plaintiff and thus harm his good name,” the court noted in its justification.

Mencwel also noted that the “creme de la creme” of the situation is the assessment of Gardawski's entry, which, while pleased with the imposition of a fine on the company, wrote that it was “a great day in the fight against the pathological developer”. The court found it offensive to Dom Development and baseless. “You can't be happy about the city punishing the developer!” – Mencwel pointed out.

“Referring to the phrases regarding the comparison of the plaintiff's activity to 'patodeweloperka', in the opinion of the Court, the reception of the indicated concept in public opinion is clearly negative. Patodeweloperka is a word created from the combination of the words pathology and developer. The word pathology evokes clearly negative associations and defines abnormal phenomena , disorders. The term patodeweloperka itself is a colloquial term used to describe investments that are characterized by striking and visible at first glance irregularities in the implementation of construction investments. The word patodeweloperka used in relation to the plaintiff is offensive and has no justification,” the court further assessed. in the justification.

According to Mencwel, “it is difficult to ignore the fact that in such an obvious case, where the developer's only goal is to silence criticism and intimidate the person who publicizes the irregularities, the court does not defend him.”

The case is in the second instance, so activists still hope that the court will dismiss Dom Development's lawsuit in its entirety.

The first-instance judgment shows that the court ordered Gardawski “to stop violating the plaintiff's (Dom Development) personal rights” by completely deleting entries on the X platform. There, the defendant was also to post an apology for the “unlawful violation of the company's personal rights”. Additionally, a financial penalty was imposed on the activist – a PLN 5,000 payment to the Urszula Jaworska foundation.

In the court's opinion, this amount “refers to the degree of violation of the plaintiff's personal rights and their consequences and “will have a compensatory effect.” It is also intended to constitute “a clear message not only to the defendant, but also to society, which should be clearly indicated that there is no room to slander anyone.”

We also asked Dom Development to comment on this matter.

“The judgment of the District Court in Warsaw concerns the unlawful violation of the personal rights of Dom Development in the form of its good name and reputation by publishing in the mass media statements containing false and groundless information that the Company is illegally occupying part of the road at ul. Stanisława Augusta in Warsaw , unfair and socially harmful, abusing its powers. Since the court proceedings have not been legally concluded, we do not want to comment on the details of the case,” Beata Krowicka-Makowska from NBS Communications, who represents the company, wrote in response to our editorial office.