POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief As a rule, Polish courts grant injunctive relief against assets located in Poland. With regard to funds in an account held in the EU, it is pos- sible to obtain a European preservation order. Exclusive national jurisdiction covers matters of rights in rem in immovable property and the pos- session of immovable property. In principle, injunctive relief may be granted against the respondent’s worldwide assets. 6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief may not be obtained against third parties. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non-compliance The consequences if a respondent does not comply with the terms of an injunction are dif- ferent and depend on the method of securing a claim. Injunctions may be enforceable, such as if a bank account is seized and the respondent is then required to comply with the injunction. In the case of a substitutable action, the court will give the creditor authority to perform the action at the debtor’s expense. In the case of irreplaceable actions, the court may impose a fine on the obligor or order the payment of a specified sum of money to the creditor.
Proceedings before Polish courts do not con- tain a “pre-trial procedure” or “trial” as known in some common law legal systems. As a rule, in the first part of the case, the parties file prepara- tory pleadings (a statement of claim, a statement of defence, etc) and then there are hearings in which oral arguments are presented and wit- ness or expert witnesses are examined (which, to some extent, is similar to a trial). As regards the parties’ argumentation (particu- larly legal argumentation), the court places the greatest emphasis on the parties’ pleadings. The court determines the facts based on the evidence presented at the hearing and the doc- uments attached to the preparatory pleadings. Moreover, in some cases, the court may 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 rul- ings on the admission or omission of requests for evidence. However, the courts often overlook this pro- cedure. 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 the evidence, etc. 7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases There is no jury in the Polish legal system. How- ever, some cases are heard by the court com- posed of a professional judge and non-profes-
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