Litigation 2026

POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak

2. Litigation Funding 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding Polish law does not provide regulations or restrictions on litigation funding. 2.2 Third-Party Funding: Lawsuits As Polish law does not provide regulations on litiga- tion funding, there are no restrictions on third-party funding with respect to the types of lawsuit, matters in dispute, etc. 2.3 Third-Party Funding for Plaintiff and Defendant As Polish law does not provide regulations or restric- tions on litigation funding, neither does it restrict the availability of funding for the claimant or for the defendant. 2.4 Minimum and Maximum Amounts of Third-Party Funding Currently, Polish law does not provide any regulations or restrictions on the maximum amount that a third- party funder may contribute. 2.5 Types of Costs Considered Under Third- Party Funding A third-party funder may fund all the costs of litigation, eg, court fees and expenses, and costs of legal repre- sentation. Polish law does not provide any restrictions in this matter. 2.6 Contingency Fees Polish law does not provide regulations or restrictions on litigation funding. Therefore, as a rule, contingency fees due to the third-party funder are allowed, and the fees are not limited. According to the professional rules binding on licensed attorneys, a success fee is allowed, but it may only constitute a part of the attorney’s remuneration, not the whole. 2.7 Time Limit for Obtaining Third-Party Funding Polish law does not provide regulations or restrictions on time limits by when a party to the litigation should obtain third-party funding.

3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-Action Conduct

The Polish court cannot impose any rules on the parties in relation to pre-action conduct. There is a requirement by law that the statement of claim includes information regarding mediation attempts or the lack of mediation. Neither mediation nor any other pre-action conduct is compulsory. However, from 1 March 2026, in disputes concerning construction contracts, the court will be obliged to refer the parties to mediation before the first hearing. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations In Poland, different limitation periods apply depend- ing on the nature of the claim. The general limitation period is six years for civil claims and three years for commercial claims. However, substantive law pro- vides many shorter limitation periods for specific types of claim. If the limitation period is two years or longer, the end of the limitation period falls on the last day of the last calendar year. A creditor’s accrual of limitations begins when the claim becomes due. If the maturity of the claim depends on an act of the creditor, the limitation period begins on the day when the claim would have become mature if the creditor undertook the act at the earliest possible opportunity. However, in specific cases, sub- stantive law may provide other triggers of limitation. Limitation is taken into account only if a debtor raises the statute of limitations. However, the time limitation of a claim against a consumer is taken into account ex officio. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant The jurisdiction of the Polish courts in international cases is guided by: • the Code of Civil Procedure; • international agreements; and • Regulation (EC) No 1215/2012 (the “Recast Brus- sels Regulation”).

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