Litigation in Poland: Everything you need to know

Sooner or later in life, everyone has situations where it is impossible to do without going to court. It happens that the customer does not pay for the work performed under the contract within the agreed time frame, the supplier handed over low-quality goods and refuses to replace them, the tenant does not vacate the premises after the expiration of the lease agreement, etc. There are also disputes with state bodies when they do not respond to official requests within the established time limits, apply fines unlawfully and deliberately delay the issuance of permits, licenses, and more. In all these and many other cases (funding, b2b etc), it will definitely not work out on your own. Judges are highly professional specialists who are able to help solve a difficult life situation in fairness and in accordance with the provisions of the current legislation.

Litigation is almost always a tedious and complex procedure that has many nuances. In order to understand how to act if in life you have to face a civil, economic or public law dispute (in which one of the parties is a state body, its official or official, exercising power management functions), you should understand the features of the Polish legal system that exist judicial instances and stages of the judicial process. After all, when a person encounters problems, he or she cannot calmly reason and carefully study the issue of jurisdiction  etc. In any case, emotions also play a role.

The layout of Polish Legal System

 The starting points for determining the current state of the Polish legal system can be called two main factors. First of all, this is the completion of the process of cardinal systemic changes in the state and social structure, which began at the end of the last century, as well as the creation of new institutions of civil society. These processes took place against the backdrop of the country's transition to a market economy, which significantly expanded the scope of tasks facing the legislator. The legal support of these processes led to the creation, in fact, of a completely new body of legislation in all major branches of Polish law. Their own historical legal experience was especially in demand at the beginning of the transition of the state to new socio-economic realities.

The second most significant factor in recent years is Poland's obligations in connection with its accession to the European Union. The manifestation of this can be observed in the vast majority of legal acts of modern Poland. As a rule, they are developed to bring the national legal regulation of certain areas in line with common European standards and already in the preamble contain an indication of specific directives and standards of the European Union.It should be noted that the process of implementation of the European Union standards into Polish legislation is rather complicated in practice and sometimes fraught with certain problems for the Polish legislator. The country has repeatedly appeared in the reports of the relevant European structures as having violated the established deadlines.Poland is a parliamentary republic, the main law of which is the Constitution, adopted on April 2, 1997 and ratified on the basis of a popular referendum. The system of government of the Republic of Poland is based on the division of power into legislative, executive and judicial.

The judiciary in Poland in the system of three branches of government has a certain monopoly: the courts, despite the medieval legal principle of "checks and balances", are not obliged to cooperate with representatives of other branches of government. Justice is a dimension of justice, and dimensions of justice cannot be influenced by other branches of government. It is about her that we will talk in more detail later. 

Litigation in Poland. Overview

The Polish judicial system is divided into the Supreme Court of Poland, the Supreme Administrative Court, the administrative courts, the appellate courts, district courts and regional courts, and the military courts. Additionally, the Polish Constitution is protected by the Constitutional Court. 

The Constitutional Court (Constitutional Tribunal) functions separately. Its scope is limited to examining and deciding on the constitutionality of laws, and to defending the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Also, its task is to check other normative acts for compliance with the constitution of the country, because the Constitution of Poland is the supreme law of this country, and any international agreement or treaty is in a subordinate position to it. The Constitutional Tribunal consists of 15 members. Judges are appointed by the Seimas on the proposal of at least 50 deputies or the Presidium of the Seimas for a period of 9 years; they cannot re-hold their positions. The President and his Deputy are appointed by the President from among candidates nominated by the Constitutional Tribunal itself.

The Supreme Court of Poland is considered the final instance in all types of cases and is divided into the following chambers:

- the Criminal Chamber

- the Labor Law, Social Security and Public Affairs Chamber

- the Military Chamber

- the Civil Chamber. 

The Supreme Court, within the limits of its powers, exercises: 

- judicial supervision over the activities of courts of general jurisdiction and military courts in criminal and civil cases, is the cassation instance;

- consideration of complaints about the validity of elections to the Seimas, the Senate or the President and referendums;

- supervision of the professional activities of bar and notarial chambers.

Administrative cases, such as legal acts of municipalities and local public administration bodies, administrative decisions or lack of consequences on the part of administrative bodies (if they violate someone's rights and legitimate interests), are considered by administrative courts (there are 14 of them) and the Supreme Administrative Court (in as the last resort). The main task of the Supreme Administrative Court is to consider appeals against decisions of lower administrative courts, and the court also checks for compliance with the laws of the country the acts adopted by the territorial administration of voivodeships and local governments; resolves disputes about competence between local self-government bodies.

Courts of second instance or courts of appeal hear cases already heard in regional courts and courts of first instance. There are 11 courts of appeal in Poland. Regional courts are located in all major cities and deal with cases already heard in the courts of first instance. Alternatively, they may hear major cases, in which case they are considered the courts of first instance. Courts of first instance deal with petty criminal and civil cases. Poland has 45 district courts and 315 district courts.

Key points regarding the litigation

- Jury is not available and Lay judges are available only in very limited number of cases

- As a rule – single judge in first instance and three judges in appeal cases

- 5% of the claim value unless flat financial fee is specified for certain types of cases

- E-mail communication with the court is not acceptable, unless explicitly accepted by the judge

- Litigation in English language in practice – not acceptable (only via sworn interpreters)

- The court adjudicates reimbursement of legal fees in accordance with statutory amounts (not in accordance with real costs) etc.

Court proceedings

Stage 1 – Claim and defense pleadings

Litigation is initiated by a statement from the plaintiff. The court evaluates the claim for compliance with all the requirements imposed on it. After that, if there is no need to make additions or corrections, the claim is served on the defendant. He has 14 days to submit objections. After that, the first court session is scheduled and the call of witnesses in the case, regardless of whether the reason for the division of real estate or something else. For everything to be correct, it is better to contact a law firm - a specialist will provide support, provide comprehensive advice and accompany you at subsequent stages.

Stage 2 – Court hearing

Before the first hearing is held, the court may also establish a plan for the trial and determine the order of the hearings, as well as the filing of various documents relevant to the adversarial process. The end of the process after the first hearing is very rare. In practice, this occurs only in the case of very simple cases. Usually there are a lot of hearings and they are “stretched out” for several months. It is difficult to plan anything in such a case.

Stage 3 – Court’s ruling

After the witnesses have been heard, all the evidence has been analyzed, all the arguments have been presented and the hearing is closed, the court makes a decision.

Stage 4 – Requesting written motives / justification

At this stage, each of the parties has the right to apply to the court for a statement of the rationale for the adoption of a particular decision. The "default" motives are not indicated in the decision.

Stage 5 – Appealing against the judgment

If you do not agree with the decision of the court, you should file an appeal. In this situation, the above-mentioned motives cannot be dispensed with. There is a small nuance - there is only 14 days to appeal after receiving the justification.

Stage 6 - Execution of the judgment

If there is no appeal or if it is rejected, the decision becomes final. Under Polish procedural law, there are two main types of fees / expenses that are incurred by the parties:

Court fees: The party that initiated the case is obligated to pay it. This principle also applies to certain types of special proceedings, such as securing or enforcement proceedings, as well as to a specific stage of proceedings, appeal proceedings etc. The amount of the court fee depends on the type of dispute. In most cases, it is 5% of the amount of the claim. In some cases, it is fixed and determined by a special regulation on court fees. The preferential court fee is 1.25% of the amount of the claim;

Legal fees and expenses: Expert fees are brought here, etc., but the peculiarity lies in the fact that it is not the real price that is reimbursed, but the cost of services according to the average market rate.

Both shall be reimbursed by the defeated party to the winning party in accordance with the court’s final judgment. A legal firm, or rather its lawyers, will definitely provide support here as well, and help you figure out all the intricacies (the law firm must have dealt with funding, taxation, maritime disputes, etc.)

Alternative dispute resolution

Another way out of the problematic situation in the legal field is the Arbitration Court. You can contact him only if the agreement signed by the parties contains a clause according to which such an opportunity is provided. The Arbitration Court functions at the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw. 

Participants in the arbitration process are not limited in the choice of arbitrators, from among whom the presiding judge will then be selected. The place and language of the process are agreed by the parties.

Appeal to the Arbitration Court is the way that is usually used to resolve commercial disputes. This is due to the fact that everything takes about 6-9 months, the trial may take longer. This creates inconvenience for the parties and impedes the normal implementation of their economic activities, which incurs additional losses for business and hinders the development of business relations (funding etc). Unlike the process presented in the Court of Arbitration, commercial litigation in poland can take years before a settlement is decided. Depending on the seriousness of the facts and, mainly, because the decisions are repeatedly challenged in other instances. 

Appeals process

If a party is dissatisfied with the decision of the court, it is possible to appeal to the court of second instance. In order to be able to assess the prospect of an appeal, it is necessary to ask the court to draw up a written justification for the decision. If there is a chance of winning, then it is necessary to prepare an appeal and submit it to the competent court within 14 days from the date of receipt of the written rationale for the decision. An appeal can only be filed once. Further judicial review is only possible within the extraordinary measures (e.g. cassation appeal) which are subject to special conditions.

Tips for those who are faced with litigation for the first time

Regardless of whether you need litigation services in Poland to resolve a civil case or resolve issues in the b2b sector, the following tips will come in handy:

- Take care of a good attorney who will represent your private interests or the interests of your business in court. Delegating the task to an experienced attorney will allow you to achieve your goal in the shortest possible time. If it is a civil litigation in Poland, this is certainly important, but time does not play the same role as in matters that concern the sector b2b. In business, sometimes every day of downtime can cost several thousand dollars, so all issues must be resolved as quickly as possible - there is no right for error. You can find a good lawyer in a law firm with a good reputation;

- If the dispute concerns real estate, then before going to court, it is necessary to collect all the documents for the object. It happens that during the process of moving or due to other reasons the document was lost - in this case, it will not be possible to initiate a question regarding the resolution of a dispute about real estate  with a neighbor or the division of property. The court must have all title documents for real estate;

- It is worth carefully studying all the nuances of applying to the court. For example, if you are confident in your abilities and all the documents confirm that you have every chance of winning, and your lawyer asks for a huge financial fee, then you should not immediately decide to cooperate with him. Of course, the losing party will reimburse the costs, but they will not cover the real costs of a lawyer (everything is carried out according to the rates prescribed at the state level). In this case, it is better to get advice from another advisory legal firm.

Final thoughts

Planning a trial, solving financial issues (payment of a court fee, search for experts, translators, advisory services of a different nature) - this is all that an ordinary person cannot handle. To do everything with the least amount of time, nerves and effort, you should contact the legal firm. Advisory from experts is simply priceless for anyone who is used to the fact that planning is an integral part of his life. Turning to lawyers is another financing for business success and a happy private life.