Zkrátili vám lhůtu k zaplacení soudního poplatku a vy jste jej nestihli zaplatit?

A lightning-fast deadline of three days

Imagine a situation recently addressed by the Supreme Court: the plaintiff (hereinafter Mr. Novák) filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of his employment termination, and the court ordered him to pay a court fee of CZK 2,000 within a deadline of just three days, without providing any justification for shortening the period.

What happened next? The money did not arrive in time. The fee was not paid until October 25, 2023. However, that was already too late – the court had already terminated the proceedings on October 13, 2023. The dispute over the validity of the termination never made it to court because the CZK 2,000 fee was not paid within the specified deadline.

Fortunately, the plaintiff did not give up. The plaintiff's legal representative filed an appeal against the decision to terminate the proceedings, and after an appeal on point of law, the case reached the Supreme Court. The core argument was clear. The court shortened the statutory fifteen-day deadline to just three days without explaining why. The court ignored the subsequent payment and terminated the proceedings – this represents an unfair interference with the plaintiff's right to a fair trial guaranteed by Article 36, Paragraph 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

What does the law say about the deadline for paying court fees?

To understand where the problem lies, let us first explain what the Act on Court Fees under Czech legislation stipulates. If the taxpayer does not properly fulfill their fee obligation upon filing a lawsuit, appeal, or appeal on point of law (Section 4, Paragraph 1 and Section 7, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Court Fees), they still have the opportunity to fulfill the fee obligation within an additional deadline set by the court in the payment request (Section 9, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Act on Court Fees).

According to the Act on Court Fees, this deadline must be at least 15 days. Exceptionally, the court may set a shorter deadline – this applies to situations where there is an extraordinary interest in the speed of the proceedings (e.g., highly urgent matters). If the court shortens the deadline to less than 15 days, it must state the reason for doing so in the request.

The current legal framework is quite strict. If you do not pay the fee within the specified deadline, the court will terminate the proceedings and will no longer accept late payment. Previously (before September 30, 2017), the law allowed the court to take into account the payment of the court fee after the deadline set by the court, provided that the fee was paid no later than the end of the deadline for filing an appeal against the resolution to terminate the proceedings for non-payment of the court fee. Now, a strict rule applies – you must pay the court fee when filing the petition to initiate proceedings (see above) or at the latest within the deadline set by the court.

A last resort can be a situation where the deadline for paying the court fee is still running and you manage to request an extension from the court in time (as the court can extend the deadline before it expires) and the court grants your request, or if you prove serious reasons why you could not pay the court fee (e.g., hospitalization, technical bank outage) and inform the court immediately, provided the court accepts these facts.

The Supreme Court's verdict – when proper justification is missing, all is not lost

What did the Supreme Court say in the aforementioned case? Shortening the deadline is indeed only an exceptional option and must be properly justified right in the request to pay the court fee. If the court sets a deadline of less than 15 days and does not justify it, it commits an error. Failure to pay the fee within such a shortened deadline cannot then automatically lead to the termination of the proceedings.

In other words – if the court gave you, for example, only three days without explaining why it is in such a hurry, and you paid the court fee after this short deadline had expired, according to the Supreme Court, the court should not terminate the proceedings without further consideration.

The Supreme Court concluded that non-payment of the fee within a deadline shorter than 15 days can only be a ground for terminating the proceedings if the statutory grounds for an exceptional shortening were met and the request to pay the court fee was properly justified. Otherwise, payment must be allowed even after the original short deadline has expired.

And that is exactly what happened in the case described – since the court request sent to Mr. Novák lacked a justification for shortening the deadline, the proceedings could not be legally terminated. The Supreme Court thus altered the decisions of the courts of both instances so that the proceedings are not terminated. The plaintiff was thus finally given a chance to seek justice – the court will hear his dispute over the invalid termination of employment on the merits.

In its reasoning, the Supreme Court also referred to similar case law of the Supreme Administrative Court, which addressed the issue in connection with the non-payment of a court fee payable upon filing a cassation complaint, cf. decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of March 28, 2018, Ref. No. 8 Afs 37/2018-51, published under No. 3734/2018 Coll. NSS.

The Supreme Administrative Court inferred that shortening the statutory deadline for paying the fee represents an exception to the rule, which must be applied very restrictively and with proper justification – otherwise, it constitutes a violation of the right to a fair trial guaranteed by Article 36, Paragraph 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

How to avoid problems with the fee – practical tips

What should you watch out for to ensure you never find yourself in a similar situation? Here are a few practical tips:

• Pay the court fee immediately and on time. Ideally, pay the fee when filing the lawsuit, appeal, or appeal on point of law. If you do not manage to do so immediately, keep an eye out for the delivery of the court's request and meet the specified deadline. Standardly, you should have 15 days.

• If the court decides to shorten the deadline, read the justification carefully. If the court insists on paying the fee within a deadline shorter than 15 days, check whether the court has properly explained the reasons in the justification of the request.

• We recommend never letting the deadline pass without a response. As soon as you find that you cannot pay the fee within the deadline (e.g., for the reasons mentioned above), contact the court immediately. You can request an extension of the deadline from the court (before the deadline expires), or inform the court of the obstacles preventing you from paying the court fee on time, cf. above. However, this is a "last resort" that may not even work – do not rely on it and ideally pay the court fee on time.

Final summary

The termination of proceedings has major consequences for you as a plaintiff – your lawsuit will not be heard at all. This can cost you significant financial resources, for example, if your claim becomes time-barred before you can refile the lawsuit (and the opposing party raises the statute of limitations defense). Therefore, it pays to pay close attention to the payment of the court fee.

Do you feel that the court set an unreasonably short deadline for you to pay the court fee, failed to justify this shortening, and you did not manage to pay the court fee within the deadline? In legal disputes, details often decide the outcome, so leave nothing to chance and contact our Czech legal team at consultation@arws.cz – your chances of success will increase significantly.