POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
A defendant residing, sitting or domiciled in Poland will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Polish courts. In specific cases, the Polish courts have jurisdiction determined on the basis of the location where the con- tract was performed, the location of the real estate or the location where the damage occurred. Moreover, in most cases, the parties can agree on the jurisdiction of the Polish courts. The Code of Civil Procedure provides regulations regarding local and functional jurisdiction. Local jurisdiction depends, as a rule, on the domicile or the seat of the defendant but, in specific matters, the local jurisdiction depends on the matter in dispute. If the local jurisdiction is not exclusive, the parties can agree on the jurisdiction of another court. Functional jurisdiction depends on the matter in dis- pute; it cannot be changed by the parties. 3.4 Initial Complaint The letter that initiates the proceedings is the state- ment of claim. It must meet formal requirements and must contain the claim, an indication of the facts sup- porting it and evidentiary motions. It determines the scope of the case, but the claimant may put forward additional facts and arguments after the statement of claim has been lodged if the possibility or the need to mention them occurs later. The statement of claim does not have to contain the legal analysis of the case. When filing the statement of claim, the claimant is obliged to pay the court fee. The documents supporting the claim should be attached to the statement of claim. In general civil proceedings, the statement of claim can be amended; however, this possibility is severe- ly limited in commercial disputes. The claimant can withdraw the statement of claim during the proceed- ings but, in some cases, the defendant’s consent is required. 3.5 Rules of Service The claimant must send the statement of claim for the defendant to the court (together with a copy for the court). The court then serves a copy on the defendant via mail. Then, during the proceedings, professional
attorneys are obliged to send a copy of their plead- ings directly to the attorney of the opposite party (with some exceptions including, among others, an appeal, a complaint, a cassation appeal or an amendment to a claim). The court sends all the court papers to the parties via mail. However, if a party is represented by a profes- sional attorney, the court’s judgments, decisions or orders may be served electronically via the court inter- net portal (each attorney who represents the clients before Polish courts should have an account in that portal). From 2027, pleadings in the second instance submitted by professional attorneys will be filed and served mandatorily electronically through the court internet portal. Moreover, in some types of proceedings, eg, in cases heard in commercial registry proceedings or in insol- vency and restructuring proceedings, the use of spe- cific internet portals is compulsory for both the court and the parties (regardless of whether they are repre- sented by a professional attorney or not). 3.6 Failure to Respond In the absence of a statement of defence, the court may consider the undisputed facts to be admitted. A position expressed by the defendant later may not be taken into account by the court if it is deemed to be late. There are very limited possibilities to submit let- ters and applications. Moreover, if the defendant fails to file a statement of defence, the court may issue a default judgment in closed session. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions Polish law permits group actions, but they are quite limited in scope and therefore rare in practice. The use of group proceedings in pecuniary claims is only allowed if the amount of each claim has been harmo- nised by equalising the claims of the members of the group or subgroup. Group actions are based on the opt-in principle. 3.8 Requirements for Cost Estimate There is no requirement in Polish law that clients are provided with an estimate of the potential costs of litigation.
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