POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
decide that an oral hearing is not necessary and issues a judgment based on written submissions and documents. 7.2 Case Management Hearings In 2019, a pre-trial hearing was introduced to set the agenda for the trial. This contains rulings on the admission or omission of requests for evidence. However, the courts often overlook this procedure. Sometimes, judges decide to hold a “management hearing”, which is not concluded within the official agenda for the trial, but which concerns decisions about the schedule of the proceedings, admission of evidence, etc. 7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases There is no jury in the Polish legal system. However, some cases are heard by a court composed of a pro- fessional judge and non-professional judges (jurors) elected by a local council for a limited period. The participation of jurors is limited. They are obliga- tory in certain cases, mainly concerning family law and labour law, but only in the first instance. 7.4 Rules That Govern Admission of Evidence The general rule is to present claims and evidence in the statement of claim and the statement of defence. The presentation of evidence subsequent to this is admissible with the permission of the court. In the second instance, new evidence may be intro- duced only in exceptional circumstances when a party was unable to rely on it in the proceedings before the court of first instance. Stricter preclusion of evidence occurs in commercial proceedings. In both the claimant’s statement of claim and the defendant’s statement of defence, the claims and evidence must be referenced. If the possibility or the need to refer to evidence arises late, the evidence should be referred to within 14 days; however, the court may decide to issue another or an additional deadline. Further, the court should disregard evidence that is not necessary to prove the facts relevant to the case
or that is submitted for the sole purpose of extending the proceedings. 7.5 Expert Testimony The court may admit the evidence of an expert wit- ness opinion at the request of the parties or, excep- tionally, ex officio. The court should do so if specialist information is required. The expert witness is appointed by the court. The par- ties are entitled to suggest candidates to become an expert witness, but these suggestions are not binding for the court. The parties are not allowed to provide a private expert’s opinion. Such opinion is considered to be the party’s position only. The expert witness prepares the opinion in writing. The parties are allowed to comment on the opinion and ask additional questions, and if so, the expert witness prepares an additional opinion in writing and may be heard orally at the hearing. It is also possible to examine the expert witness remotely, but the par- ties have a right to oppose remote examination. The evidence of an expert witness opinion is subject to the court’s evaluation in the same way as other evi- dence. However, in practice, this evidence is of great importance. 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public The openness of hearings is a constitutional princi- ple. Decisions of minor importance may be made in closed session. The openness of the hearing may be excluded ex officio or for other reasons, eg, when the public hearing of the case would threaten public order. A party may request that a hearing is conducted in camera if the party’s commercial secrets of the parties would be disclosed. Only persons of legal age have access to public hearings. 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge The judge leads the hearing. They are the first to ques- tion the witnesses and experts and may ask questions out of turn. They may also overrule a question from an attorney or a party, and may take the floor when they consider that a question or statement is abusive.
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