MOSCOW, April 3 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court will reconsider a lawsuit filed by the Film Directors Guild's Trading House Forum-XXI against the Moscow city government for $21.86 million due to its disruption of a luxury housing project in the capital.

The plaintiff submitted to the court a lawsuit worth 760.128 million rubles ($25.96 million). At first, the claims were dismissed in full, but the cassation court partly submitted the case for reconsideration.

According to the Film Directors Guild's Trading House Forum-XXI, the Moscow Mayor's Office signed investment contracts to construct an art center and hotel complex adjacent to the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow in 2000.

The Moscow government and Forum-XXI entered into a 49-year lease agreement regarding the construction site.

The guild maintained that, pursuant to a government resolution, it invested in the project engineering design and construction, but the Moscow authorities then terminated the lease in 2005. Forum-XXI also said the interest on the loan granted by Kazakh Kazkommertsbank also accounts for the incurred losses.

A city spokesperson argued that the statute of limitations had expired because the lease agreement was declared null and void by the Supreme Commercial Court in November 2006.

Meanwhile, the court terminated a second lease contract in September 2007, the Moscow government said.

The Moscow Commercial Court held against the guild's lawsuit on September 19, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired.

The Moscow District Federal Commercial Court decided on March 28 that the conclusion of the lower-instance courts that the statute of limitations had expired is groundless as the plaintiff found out about the amount of the expenses confirmed in the documents only in April 2008.

Therefore, the claims by the guild to recover 471 million rubles ($16.08 million) in losses and 169.104 million rubles ($5.77 million) in borrowing interest will be reconsidered.
At the same time, the court confirmed the dismissal of the claim for 120 million rubles ($4.09mln) in lost profit as compensation since the amount is an estimate that has not been confirmed in any documents.