The first verdict in Poland for “patho-developer”. It's about a plot of land in Kamionek

A few years ago, the Miasto Jest Nasze organization became interested in selling a plot of land constituting part of the historic Kamionkowskie Błonia Elekcyjne park in Praga Południe in Warsaw.

In 2016, a fragment of the Błonia area entered into the register of monuments (which is not the area named Kamionkowskie Błonia Elekcyjne) along ul. Stanisław Augusta was sold to a private owner, Dom Development, for development purposes. TVN Warszawa reported that the plot sold was 80 percent under conservation protection.

City Jest Our activist Stefan Gardawski helped reveal that the sale took place without the required consent of the conservator.

Apartment buildings in Kamionek. Stefan Gardawski sued for “patodeveloper”

“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 issues was the use of the road as a construction base, which was inconsistent with the contract,” Jan Mencwel recalled the history of this investment at X.

The case gained media publicity. After it was publicized, the office imposed a fine on Dom Development of almost PLN 37 million. Mencwel noted that the penalty was annulled due to the city's formal errors.

Dom Development nevertheless went to court. As the activist assessed – in revenge. She sued Gardawski for infringement of personal rights in connection with a series of entries by the activist, including: using the term “path developer”.

“It is probably a coincidence that Stefan received the pre-court summons (to his work e-mail!) on the day of the MJN press conference about another Dom Development investment in Wola,” Mencwel wrote. He included the justification for the court's judgment in this case.

The court stated, among other things, that the tweet containing the words “A great day in the fight against a pathological developer” (referring to the imposition of penalties on the company) is offensive to the developer, Dom Development, and groundless. “The word pathology evokes clearly negative associations and describes abnormal phenomena and disorders. (…) The word patodeweloperka used in relation to the plaintiff is offensive and has no justification,” we read.

The court ordered Gardawski “to stop violating the personal rights of the plaintiff (Dom Development)” by completely deleting entries on the X platform. There, the defendant was also to post an apology for the “unlawful violation of the personal rights” of the company. Additionally, Gardawski is to pay PLN 5,000 to the Urszula Jaworska foundation.

Jan Mencwel added that the case would be dealt with by the court of second instance, “so there is still hope that the court will dismiss Dom Development's claim in its entirety.”

In 2020, the mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, notified the prosecutor's office regarding the plot in Kamionek – he requested that the case be investigated under the public interest procedure. However, the prosecutor's office announced that it found no grounds to invalidate the sales contract.