“The lawsuit took me completely by surprise and quite mentally devastated me, I couldn't sleep and concentrate on anything else, including my business,” shares Matějka.
Mr. Matějka, who is chairman of the association Za zdravou Jihlavu (“For a healthy Jihlava”) lives near Kronospan’s operations and is one of the most vocal critics of the widespread pollution caused by the factories. Manufacturing of chipboard leads to the production of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds from gluing chipboard, especially carcinogenic and mutagenic formaldehyde. For many years, Kronospan is one of the top producers of formaldehyde in Czechia. Adhesives and other chemicals also allegedly polluted local waters.
Recently, the most urgent is excessive noise pollution, especially at night.
“When a person does not get a good night's sleep for several years, there is a great restriction of strength for further life activities,” comments Matějka impacts of noise pollution, especially at night. “I was very sad that even my children and grandchildren do not want to come to see me because they cannot sleep here at night.”
Because of the insufficient action of authorities, Mr. Matějka and his colleagues started to measure noise levels by themselves and posted the results of their measurements on social media, which stated, that Kronospan exceeds the limits of noise pollution. Kronospan denied that and threatened Mr. Matějka with the aforementioned lawsuit.
“No responsible businessman can allow untruths to be spread about allegedly breaking the rules”, stated the company in its PR statement arguing that several of Matějka’s online posts cause damage to the reputation and the good name of Kronospan.
In 2020, Mr. Matějka together with his neighbours and fellow citizens founded a citizens’ association, in reaction to Kronospan’s intention to expand its operations to include the processing of waste furniture. At first, the association planned to confront primarily the inaction of local authorities, which allow exceptions from the hygiene limits, and not the company itself. Until the first pre-claim notice came, requiring the association to change its name, which allegedly damaged the company’s reputation.
In response to the notice, the association changed its name and declared to change its strategy: “after harassment by the hired law firm and pre-suit challenges, the criticism will also be aimed directly at Kronospan,” stated the association. Together with the change of the name, Kronospan demanded that Mr. Matějka delete his social media posts, which he did.
Earlier, in 2019, Kronospan demanded 500,000 CZK and an apology from local council representative Miroslav Tomanec for his comments. Attorney and senator Václav Láska noted, that he has plenty of experience with similar lawsuits from his legal practice, and that the “absurd” financial compensation show the intimidation attempt of such legal action.
Four years later, Milan Matějka faced a similar situation. For posting allegedly incorrect and misleading posts about noise levels in the surroundings of the factory on his social media, Kronospan demanded an apology, deletion of the posts and the aforementioned amount of half a million Czech Crowns.
Unlike in 2020, he decided not to give up this time immediately after the pre-claim notice, as he considered it to be a coercion by the “force of money”. Thus, the notice was soon followed by the lawsuit.
In August 2024, the regional court in Brno approved a settlement between the parties, and Mr. Matějka had to delete some of his statements and pay only the court costs of the applicant which amounted to 1,800 CZK.
After this experience, Milan Matějka has been under pressure from his family to stop his civic activities: “This lawsuit severely reduced my desire and activity to work for the benefit of our association against endangering the health of all of the residents of Jihlava and the surrounding area.”
“The amount of 500,000 CZK and additional court costs would completely threaten the activity and the operation of my family and my business, it seemed to me completely inadequate and devastating.”
Matějka assumes that the intimidation by Kronospan was successful and discouraged other citizens from criticizing the company. He also started to question, whether civil society is sufficiently supported and protected in the country. On the other hand, he was positively surprised by the solidarity of his fellow citizens who contacted him with an interest in organizing some possible public fundraising to help him cover the costs.
“I have never been to court before in my life, and despite that, I was sued just as a result of my public criticism of the noise pollution occurring at night from the Kronospan company, which threatens not only my health.”
Despite legal intimidations, he and his colleagues are determined to continue with their activities.
Sources
E-mail comment from Milan Matějka
CZ 05/11/2023 Jihlavský občan na Facebooku opakovaně kritizoval činnost Kronospanu, ten za to po něm chce půl milionu (jihlavska.drbna.cz)
CZ Průmyslové zdroje úniků toxických látek v Jihlavě (Arnika)
CZ 03/10/2022 Tisková zpráva k podání Podnětu k prošetření podezření z veřejného ohrožení povrchových a podzemních vod, ekologické újmy a ohrožení zdraví obyvatel (nekrono.cz)
17/01/2022 Ne Kronospadu mění název. Právníci firmy nás šikanují, tvrdí aktivisté (idnes.cz)
24/11/2019 Zastupitel Tomanec: Kronospan po mně chce 0,5 milionu korun (Jihlavské listy)
CZ NEKRONO.CZ Za Zdravou Jihlavu (web page of the Za zdravou Jihlavu association – www.nekrono.cz)
CZ 29/11/2019 Kronospan žaluje zastupitele Tomance, žádá po něm půl milionu za poškozování pověsti (jihlavska.drbna.cz)
CZ 09/10/2024 Tisková zpráva: Pan Matějka se omluvil KRONOSPANU za zveřejňování nepravdivých informací (obcasnik.eu)
CZ 14/10/2021 Jihlavské závody Kronospanu loni vypustily nejvíc formaldehydu v Česku (idnes.cz)
