In 19 Montenegrin municipalities, last year, 6.543.694,9 euros were paid based on lawsuits and out-of-court settlements. The absolute record holder is the Capital City, which had to allocate 2024 euros from the budget for these purposes in 2.890.565,01. Budva follows with 1.552.272 euros, and the local government of Kotor spent a little more than half a million euros for these purposes. Interestingly, the Municipality of Plužine did not have any payments for these purposes in 2024.
More was spent on fines than the budgets of some of the smaller Montenegrin municipalities, such as Žabljak, Zeta, Plav or Gusinje. For comparison, the Government of Montenegro allocated almost the same amount of money to the Ministry of Health in 2024.
The lawsuits related to a wide variety of things, from the now classic compensation for stray dog bites that were paid in almost every one of these 17 municipalities, compensation for not using annual leave, through the silence of the administration to, in some cases, astronomical amounts for compensation for illegal expropriation.
In 2024, the capital city paid a total of 2.890.565,01 euros based on lawsuits and out-of-court settlements.
Dogs bite, but also cats
The largest amount was allocated from the city treasury for lawsuits based on expropriation - 1.351.354,27 euros. A total of 315,912,62 euros was paid for court executions from employment and for interest.
368.628,05 euros were spent on paying off "other liabilities", and 163.728,11 euros were paid for taxes and contributions on net earnings according to judgments.
For dog bites, the city administration had to pay a total of 43.455 euros, plus 23.232,48 euros for court costs in these proceedings. Interestingly, in addition to dogs, Podgorica residents were also bitten by cats. Due to a cat bite, the Podgorica resident NA was first paid 299,98, and then another 423 euros.
56.351,80 euros were paid to the company “Limov Radović” doo from Herceg Novi as the principal, and another 52.739,58 euros for statutory default interest. This company filed a lawsuit for damages for lost profits from 2011 to 2014.
For "paid and unpaid orders for natural and legal persons - expenses based on the costs of court proceedings", the budget was relieved by a total of 690.699,96 euros.
These include expenses based on the costs of court proceedings - labor relations (93.435,89), expenses based on the costs of court proceedings - expropriations (46.787,14), repayment of other liabilities (34.991,93), costs of compensation for conducting public procurement procedures (968,00), expenses based on the costs of court proceedings for recourse (200), expenses based on the costs of court proceedings for dog bites (23.232,48), expenses based on the costs of court proceedings related to real estate tax (158.690,87).
What certainly attracts attention are the costs of the proceedings due to the "silence of the administration", which amounted to 331.028,65 euros.
"It is not news that local authorities are closed to providing information about their work. It often happens that even councilors cannot obtain basic data without multiple appeals, which often remain without results. Citizens are in an even more disadvantaged position - deprived of the basic right to access information. Sometimes this silence is not the result of inertia, but of preventing the investigative work of councilors, the media, the civil sector or the opposition. So, they are ready to pay so that something is not found out. Of course, with our money," he said. Srdjan Peric, councilor of the Preokret Movement in the Podgorica parliament.
Last year, the Municipality of Nikšić paid out 558.881 euros based on executed court judgments and out-of-court settlements. 299.241 euros were paid for damage caused by dog bites and attacks, more than 55.000 euros for injuries caused by falls on ice, more than 151.000 euros for injuries from falls on the sidewalk, and 12.459 euros were paid for damage to a motor vehicle from the municipal treasury.
"This goes on and Zoran Šoškić, Secretary of the Secretariat for Development, Finance and Entrepreneurship.
Andrijevica paid 2024 euros in 15.846,79 based on lawsuits and out-of-court settlements. The largest number of payments went to litigation costs, and the largest amount still went to Miodrag Novović to whom this local government, in a court settlement for not using annual leave, paid 5.235,67 euros, plus 400 euros to his lawyer.
The royal capital of Cetinje paid 48.603,17 euros from the budget on this basis, and Gusinje, according to the submitted documentation, only 1.643,10 euros.
Also sued by the Episcopal Ordinariate of Kotor
The Municipality of Herceg Novi paid a total of 296.551,49 euros last year, based on lawsuits and out-of-court settlements.
This local government, among other things, as a joint and several debtor, paid 74.928 euros according to a final judgment. Milun Šapić, and the company “Limov Radović” doo was paid 56.351,80 euros in principal, and another 52.739,58 euros in statutory default interest. This company filed a lawsuit for damages for lost profits from 2011 to 2014.
By the verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica, the Municipality of Herceg Novi and AD Vektra Boka, the family Sabovic The compensation for the seized land was set at 1.268.352 euros. The agreement stipulated that the Municipality, from half of its debts, would pay a total of 2024 euros to creditors by the end of 100.000.
Kotor allocated 503.830,30 euros on this basis last year. Of the total amount, 209.232 euros were paid to the Diocese of Kotor as compensation. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Montenegro of 24 January 2024 confirmed the final judgment issued on 19 February 2019 by the Basic Court of Kotor, which obliged the Municipality of Kotor to pay the plaintiff, the Episcopal Ordinariate of Kotor - Church of Our Lady of the Snows, compensation for actual expropriation in the amount of 209.232,00 euros with statutory default interest. The Diocese of Kotor initiated the court proceedings in 2015.
The municipality of Mojkovac allocated 63.314,57 euros for payments based on lawsuits and out-of-court settlements, and the local government in Tuzi allocated 12.820,09 euros.
The Municipality of Petnjica had to pay 2024 euros in 1.690, including 300 euros due to the silence of the administration. A slightly larger amount, 2.687,27 euros, was paid by the Municipality of Zeta, mostly based on rulings of the Administrative Court due to the silence of the administration.
In Plužine, as they state in their response to the SPI, in the period from January 1 to December 31, 2024, there were no payments based on court judgments and out-of-court settlements, while 9.371,34 euros were paid from the municipal treasury on this basis in Žabljak, mostly due to stray dog bites.
Total costs based on court rulings and out-of-court settlements last year cost the Municipality of Ulcinj 153,5 thousand euros.
This is stated in the Report on paid and unpaid orders for natural and legal persons from 01.01.2024 - 31.12.2024, submitted by the Ulcinj Secretariat for Budget and Finance, which "Vijesti" had access to.
Secretary Arjan Ljamović He said that in the structure of court proceedings costs, as in other municipalities, there is a pronounced problem related to appeals against real estate tax decisions.
"These complaints cause additional expenses, especially in terms of legal fees. In order to reduce this budgetary burden, the Union of Municipalities has prepared a draft of a new Law, the adoption of which is expected to significantly reduce costs on this basis," Ljamović told "Vijesti".
He stated that in addition, court proceedings based on land expropriation have become more frequent, most often initiated by citizens, while to a lesser extent, verdicts based on stray dog bites have also been recorded.
Last year, the Municipality of Tivat spent a total of 351.917,51 euros on paying damages in court disputes, costs of court proceedings, out-of-court settlements, expert opinions and mediation costs.
This is shown by data that "Vijesti" received from the Tivat Municipality based on a request for free access to information submitted through the MANS application.
The submitted documents show that the largest part of these costs relate to the payment of disputes that citizens or companies initiated against the Municipality due to the expropriation of their real estate, because they were dissatisfied with the value initially paid to them, which was based on the assessments of the Real Estate Administration of Montenegro. Likewise, there were cases where citizens sued and won the Municipality in court, demanding that it pay them in full for some of their plots, although it had initially expropriated only parts of those real estate, but then the owners stood up with a request to pay the so-called. factual expropriation for the rest of those plots because they had become unusable.
The largest court expense paid last year for expropriated property, in the amount of 70.631 euros with costs, was paid by the Tivat Municipality to the Episcopal Ordinariate in Kotor. Interestingly, last year, 45.873,36 euros in "compensation for material damage during expropriation" was also paid to the construction company "Adria bau" from Bar, which for years hindered the implementation of the project to build the first phase of the lungo mare promenade in Krašići, even though it is a par excellence facility of public interest that should provide public access to the seashore in this part of the Tivat Bay, where the sea has become almost completely inaccessible to citizens due to the construction of a series of large private villas on the very edge of the coast.
The municipality, in solidarity with the Kotor Municipal Company, which manages the Kotor and Tivat Animal Shelter, paid several compensations to citizens for stray dog bites last year. These compensations were resolved both in court and through out-of-court settlements or through official mediation, and ranged in individual amounts from 250 to 1.000 euros.
The Municipality, in solidarity with the Tivat Municipal Company, paid a total of 635 euros in damages and court costs to a citizen of Tivat for injuries sustained after falling into a manhole on a public area.
During 2024, the Municipality of Kolašin paid at least around 31.000 euros in final judgments, mediations and legal fees, according to data submitted based on a request for free access to information, via the NGO MANS application.
This amount also includes a total of around 33.000 euros, which, based on the court verdict, the municipalities of Bijelo Polje, Berane, Kolašin, Mojkovac, Andrijevica and Plav jointly paid. Tatjana Dracula Medenica, the former director of the Regional Tourism Organization (RTO) “Bjelasica and Komovi”. On this basis, around 6.000 euros were paid from the budget of the Kolašin Municipality towards the principal debt, while an additional 1.633 euros were paid towards part of the costs of the procedure.
The municipality was also sued by a local government employee for unpaid fees for work on municipal commissions. The case cost the budget 1.366 euros, including the principal debt, default interest, and legal costs.
Zavala is just waiting
The Kolašin local government also paid compensation for damages caused by vehicle damage, attacks by stray dogs on people, goats and sheep. In one case, a settlement paid 200 euros in non-pecuniary damage to a person who was attacked by a cat on the street.
The municipality has also been sued for damage to vehicles caused by poor road conditions. For example, in one case, the insurance company was paid around 1.600 euros, with an additional 150 euros in legal costs.
A woman from Kolašin received 4.000 euros in compensation for a broken arm she suffered in a fall on an unpaved sidewalk in front of the Tourist Organization building in mediation. In another case, based on a court settlement before the Basic Court in Kolašin, the Municipality agreed to pay 4.000 euros to the plaintiff for violation of her personal rights, while the costs of expert testimony and legal services in that proceeding amounted to an additional 1.456 euros.
Last year, 1.552.272 euros were paid out in lawsuits and court settlements in the Municipality of Budva.
Former Assistant Secretary of the Secretariat for Property Protection of the Municipality of Budva Đorđe Zenović He told "Vijesti" that the fact is that due to the large number of court cases, the Municipality of Budva has been allocating a large amount of funds for years based on voluntary payments of final judgments, but also based on forced collections through enforcement.
"But, also, in the last eight years, the Municipality has been winning disputes and on that basis the amount of collection and income is significantly higher than in the previous period, which is reflected in the fact that the Municipality is finally in a stable financial situation. Citizens and the public should know that the Municipality, as a litigant, has numerous disputes that last for two decades, and that in these disputes the court costs have reached the amount of the claim. This is a much bigger problem than the data on how much we pay to the opposing parties on an annual basis according to judgments, because several disputes with multi-million amounts are active. Some of these disputes can be ended by agreement and settlement, which would save a significant amount on court costs, but would also spare the representatives and the court from further exhaustion. On the other hand, some other multi-million disputes require precise expertise and statements from numerous institutions and it is not easy to reach an agreement in order to protect the interests of the Municipality. All in all, it is up to the Municipality's management to establish a clear strategy", said Zenovic.
He adds that last year's amount is a relatively small figure compared to the lawsuits and disputes being filed against the Municipality. The Zavala process alone, where locals are seeking the return of land or compensation, is worth more than 50 million euros.
"Vijesti" obtained the data using the Law on Free Access to Information and the MANS application "Ask the Institutions".
Lawsuits filed against former officials in Tivat
The municipality was also won in court last year by some of its former officials, and the former Secretary of the Tivat Municipal Assembly, Goran Babović (DPS), received compensation of 233,85 euros for unpaid overtime pay. The former Mayor of the Municipality, Siniša Kusovac (DPS), received compensation of 1.901,23 euros, including related court and bailiff costs, for unused vacation rights in 2019. That year, Kusovac was the mayor, which suggests that after leaving that position, from which he was dismissed in the fall of 2020, he sued the Municipality he headed for not writing a decision on the use of vacation a year earlier.
In Šavnik, 13.543,63 euros for not using annual leave
There were also lawsuits in Šavnik for not using annual leave. For the period from 2011 to 2022, Mirčeta Jelić was paid 13.543,63 euros on this basis. That verdict was also the largest item in the budget expenditures for lawsuits and out-of-court settlements, which amounted to 15.228,26 euros.
Pljevlja: 3.000 euros for falling in the snow
Last year, the Municipality of Pljevlja paid around 25,5 thousand euros from the budget and around 8,5 thousand euros in court costs based on lawsuits and out-of-court settlements on various grounds.
A total of 1.400 euros was paid for three dog bite lawsuits, and the municipality and the local utility company jointly had to pay another 2009 euros for court costs in these disputes. For dog bites, the court generally awarded around 500 euros in non-pecuniary damages, while the costs of the proceedings amounted to over seven hundred euros.
Last year, the municipality had to pay 3.000 euros to an elderly woman based on a verdict by the Basic Court in Pljevlja, which found it liable for injuries she sustained when she fell due to uncleared snow.
In one case, 2.000 euros were paid to a woman who was injured due to an unsecured site where workers from the municipal water company were carrying out work.
Around 3.800 euros were paid based on a court ruling for expropriation, and 1.800 euros and 1.600 euros respectively to two employees of the Municipal Police and the Municipality of Pljevlja due to incorrectly calculated salaries.
The municipality paid the most money to the municipal company "Proljeće komerc" due to the inability to use metering devices in business premises that are heated from the city boiler room.
In this case, almost three thousand euros in court costs were paid.
Due to unused vacations, the Municipality had to pay 4.479 euros to the former secretary of the Secretariat for Inspection Affairs, Joka Đačić, following court rulings.
260 civil proceedings in Bijelo Polje
There were 260 civil cases pending in Bijelo Polje last year, with a total value of 1.026.217,22 euros.
According to data from the Directorate for Property and Protection of Rights of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, in 2024, 99 civil cases worth 119.854 euros were completed, and 38 civil cases worth 161 euros were unresolved.
8 items were recovered with a value of 27.108,51 euros, and 91 items were lost with a value of 92.745 euros.
Of the total number of civil cases in progress, the Municipality of Bijelo Polje was the plaintiff in 36 cases, while it was the defendant in 224 cases.
The Directorate for Property and Protection of Municipal Rights filed 2024 appeals against first-instance judgments in 13. The Directorate filed 224 responses to lawsuits in civil cases and filed 3 revisions before the Supreme Court of Montenegro.
Director of the Property Directorate, Ljubomir Sošić, said that the structure of civil cases is diverse and comprehensive, considering the relationships being resolved as a whole, numerous institutes of civil real law, as well as obligations.
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