Court rejects proposal to launch bankruptcy proceedings against Social Democrats

The Prague City Court has rejected a proposal by lawyer Zdenek Altner to launch bankruptcy proceedings against the Social Democratic Party. Mr. Altner sued the Social Democratic Party for allegedly failing to pay his fee for representing the party in its dispute with the Finance Ministry over the party's Prague headquarters Lidovy Dum. Altner won the case in 2,000 and says he has not been paid for his services to date. According to the lawyer, the Social Democrats owe him close to twenty million crowns. The Prague City Court ruled that there were no grounds on which to launch bankruptcy proceedings and that the plaintiff had failed to justify his claims.