POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements In-court settlements are a title of enforcement. A clause of enforceability must be sought and obtained in order to enforce such a provision. This also applies to settlements executed during official mediation. On the other hand, an out-of-court settlement is a pri- vate contract. If a party does not follow the settlement, the opposite party has to bring an action (statement of claim) to the court and obtain a final and valid judg- ment to enforce the settlement. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements Polish law strictly limits the possibility of setting aside settlement agreements. Particularly, the legal effects of a settlement agreement cannot be voided on the grounds that evidence has been found as to the claims to which the settlement agreement relates unless the settlement agreement was concluded in bad faith. If a settlement agreement was entered into under the influence of a mistake, the voidance of its legal effects can only be justified when the mistake concerns a factual state that both parties believed was undoubt- ed based on the agreement, and if the parties had known the real state of affairs when the settlement was reached, the dispute or uncertainty would not have arisen. 9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant There are three types of judgments in Poland: • award judgments; • declaratory judgments; and • formative judgments. In addition, there are also orders for payment ( nakaz zapłaty ) that are issued in simplified procedures, in particular, an order for payment procedure and a pro- cedure by writ of payment. These procedures in the first stage are conducted ex parte, and the order of payment is based on the claimant’s assertions and written evidence. The defendant may appeal an order
The judge may express a view as to the intended rul- ing. Judgments and decisions may be issued during the hearing or in closed session. This is at the judge’s discretion but, as a rule, if the judge decides to close the trial and issue the judgment in closed session, the parties should be informed and given the possibility to express their position in writing. 7.8 General Timeframes for Proceedings There is no legal timeframe for proceedings. In prac- tice, the length of the proceedings depends on the type of case and the area under the jurisdiction of the court concerned. It is estimated that proceedings in two instances in large cities take approximately three to four years, or even longer if the case is complex; in smaller cities, proceedings take approximately two years. There are in-court and out-of-court settlements in Poland. An in-court settlement may be declared inad- missible by the court when it is contrary to the law or principles of social coexistence or aims to circumvent the law. However, if such a settlement is approved, it ends the litigation. Out-of-court settlements function like any other agree- ment provided by civil law and do not themselves have an effect on the trial. However, in an out-of-court settlement, the claimant may request the withdrawal of the claim and the parties may decide on the costs of proceedings. 8. Settlement 8.1 Court Approval 8.2 Settlement of Lawsuits and Confidentiality In-court settlements form part of the court files. The rule of access to them is the same as the general rules regarding access to a case file. This means that they may be available to third parties with the court’s per- mission. On the other hand, out-of-court settlements are not in the public domain and are not published by the court.
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