POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant There are three types of judgments in Poland: • awarding judgments; • declaratory judgments; and • formative judgments. In addition, there are also orders for payment ( nakaz zapłaty ) that are issued in simplified pro- cedures, in particular, an order for a payment procedure and procedure by writ of payment. These procedures in the first stage are con- ducted ex parte and the order of payment is based on the claimant’s assertions and written evidence. The defendant may appeal an order of payment to the same court relatively easily. This results in the initiation of regular proceedings. 9.2 Rules Regarding Damages Damages compensation serves a compensatory purpose. Its amount is determined by different methods. A comparison is made between the condition of the assets after the event causing the damage and the condition of the assets with- out the event. Punitive damages cannot be awarded. An excep- tion exists in copyright proceedings. Right hold- ers whose economic rights have been infringed are entitled to recover damages equal to twice the amount of the relevant remuneration. In cases of personal injury and of infringement of personal rights, the injured party may be enti- tled to compensation in the form of a payment or an order to pay a specified sum of money to the NGO. The amount of compensation in such
cases is established based on the principles of equity. Polish courts seem to be rather conservative when it comes to the amount of compensation. 9.3 Pre-judgment and Post-judgment Interest A party may successfully claim interest from the time when payment became due. This means that the party may claim for the interest that had accrued before the statement of claim was filed. Moreover, the claimant is entitled to capitalise the interest accrued until the date of the state- ment of claim. If a Polish court issues a judgment awarding money, it generally awards a specific amount of money “together with the interest calculated from the specific date to the date of payment”. As a result, the creditor does not have to file a new statement of claim for the interest accrued after the judgment has been entered. It should be noted that if the bailiff enforces the judgment, the interest is enforced in the actual amount as well. In the event that the rate of interest for delay was not specified in the contract, statutory interest is accrued for the delay in an amount equal to the sum of the reference rate of the National Bank of Poland (NBP) and 5.5% points. Interest for late payment in commercial trans- actions is due in certain categories of business cases. The interest for late payment in commer- cial transactions is higher than ordinary statutory interest and equal the sum of the NBP reference rate and 10% points.
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