NNDKP Wins the Appeal Filed by Romsilva Against the Bucovina Orthodox Church Fund
November, 2013 - Bucharest, Romania
Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen (NNDKP) won the appeal filed by the National Forest Administration - Romsilva (RNP Romsilva) against the Bucovina Orthodox Church Fund. The Cluj Court of Appeals admitted the appeal filed by RNP Romsilva, Suceava Forestry Division, and dismissed the action for the restitution of over 166,813.5 ha of forest - over 75% of Suceava county's forestland - filed by the Church Fund, having as object the real estate claim and land book rectification.
The litigation started in 2001 and in 2008 the Suceava Trial Court admitted the claim filed by The Orthodox Church Fund, thus ordering the Suceava Forestry Division/Romanian State to hand over this land to the Fund.
The legal arguments raised in the case coordinated by Ana Diculescu-Șova and Sorina Olaru were based on the coherence of the legal norms governing the ownership right created under the civil law imposed under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and continued under Romanian law pursuant to 5 Constitutions, by reference also to the complementary church cannons, separate from civil law, and continuing with the legal regime applicable to legal entities of public/private utility and the differences in the treatment of the property of these entities when they functioned within the Orthodox Church system.
The solution obtained after over 12 years of litigation confirms the advanced legal reasoning, as well as the ownership right of the Romanian State over the claimed land.
NNDKP’s Dispute Resolution department comprises 35 attorneys coordinated by Senior Partner Ana Diculescu-Şova and Partners Sorina Olaru, Simona Neagu, Emil Bivolaru and Radu Damaschin. In 2013, the practice managed over 2,000 cases and brought in over 40% of the firm’s revenues for the past year.
