Final Word from Thursday, April 7, 2016
To borrow from Woody Allen (but without the sexual connotation), lawyer Zdeněk Altner did to ČSSD what ČSSD has been doing to the country for years. He screwed the party in a court case that defies the imagination. He was legitimately owed Kč 18m for helping ČSSD win back its headquarters, but he's walking away with Kč 337m. Usually only ČSSD can manage such wizardry in arbitration cases against the state. In the most recent example, Czech Railways lost a Kč 1.2bn verdict that will help co-owner Josef Bernard of Škoda Transportation run for Pilsen governor on ČSSD's ticket. Ex-Chair Jiří Paroubek of ČSSD told Impuls that what lawyer Radek Pokorný gets away with at the Arbitration Court is shameless. Paroubek also blames Pokorný for the loss to Altner, not because Pokorný might have intentionally screwed his own party this time, but "merely" because he was too busy with his own little deals to defend ČSSD's interests. [Czech Republic Lidový dům Annie Hall]
Glossary of difficult words
to get a taste of one's own medicine - to receive the same bad treatment that one has inflicted on others;
Woody Allen - (from "Annie Hall") "I had dated a woman briefly in the Eisenhower administration, and it was ironic to me, because I was trying to do to her what Eisenhower had been doing to the country for the last 8 years.";
to screw someone - to cause someone to get into a difficult situation; to cheat or swindle someone; to engage in sexual intercourse with someone;
to defy - (in this sense) to make (an action or quality) almost impossible;
to walk away/off with - to win;
wizardry - magic; great skill in a particular area of activity.