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FAQ

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What impact on the conduct of proceedings do the parties have and what is the role of the court?

In Poland proceedings are adversarial and the parties are fully responsible for the conduct and outcome thereof. This feature is particularly noticeable in commercial proceedings where the court cannot take any step without the initiative of the parties. The parties and not the court decide what procedural instruments are to be employed to prove their claim. A court acts ex officio in exceptional situations only and in commercial proceedings it does so extremely rarely.

At an initial stage of the dispute the parties choose between initiating court proceedings and filing an application for settlement at court. As mentioned above, the settlement procedure is recommended in cases where it is likely that the parties will reach agreement. Before initiation of proceedings the parties can also employ some means of strengthening their position in the dispute, like securing claims and evidence.

The plaintiff (and only the plaintiff) is authorised to request the court to conduct proceedings by writ of payment, which is a specific type of proceedings in which the court makes a decision based exclusively on certain documents (specified by law) attached to the statement of claim. Such request must be made in the statement of claim.

It should be emphasised that in commercial proceedings, all decisions as to the conduct and course of proceedings must be made at the moment of filing the statement of claim. This includes, in particular, submitting evidence. Failure to raise all arguments and present all accessible evidence in the first pleading entails very severe consequences as a party is deprived of the right to present them at a later stage in the proceedings. Further evidence may be admitted by a court only if a party proves that it could not have presented it earlier and only within two weeks from the moment when the new evidence became accessible to the party. Therefore, the plaintiff has to predict the arguments of the defence and present counter arguments at the very beginning of proceedings.

As the outcome of proceedings is determined on the basis of the evidence (or applications to adduce such evidence) submitted by the parties alongside their first pleadings, and as the court can only admit such evidence, it is therefore a common practice to present excessive evidence when filing the claim as the application for its admission can be withdrawn at any time.

The most common applications submitted by the parties concern admission of evidence such as documents, expert opinions, witness testimonies, hearing of the parties, etc.

As indicated above, the role of the court, especially in commercial proceedings, is passive. It is limited to examination and assessment of applications and evidence. The court admits particular evidence such as documents, the testimony of individual witnesses and expert opinions. The court also decides whether late submission of evidence is justified. Finally, the court sets the dates of hearings and decides whether a case is ready to be finalised, i.e. whether it is already possible to issue a judgment.

It should be noted that it is the duty of the parties to prove all statements, allegations and claims or indicate to the court the means of proving them. Failure to give to the court the arguments and evidence, or their late submission, leads to the court making a decision based solely on the material before it, which may be severely limited. In such circumstances the parties cannot appeal on the grounds that the court did not verify some facts or did not admit certain evidence, as it was the duty of the parties and not of the court to prove the claim.

In commercial proceedings, where the defendant is obliged to file a reply to the statement of claim, the court may issue a default judgment in the absence of such reply.