If you plan, or already do any business in Poland, you should know what the civil judiciary system in Poland looks like. This may be the only way to deal with disagreement with your supplier or client. Although, unless you speak Polish, you should hire an attorney, it is good to know what to expect.
And what you may expect, is that it takes a lot of time to obtain a verdict. If your opponent appeals, expect to wait 2-2,5 years for final judgment.
Types of courts in Poland
In general, the civil judiciary system in Poland of three stages.
Regional courts (Sady Rejonowe)
Regional courts are the most common courts in Poland. There are more than 300 of them, which means that every third town in Poland has its court. Regional courts are divided into separate divisions. It is the first instance that deals with various cases. In most cases, this is the court where you will send your lawsuit. In general, it deals with all the cases that are not restricted to district courts.
Except for the type of court, you should consider the location of the court that you should go to. In general, this will be the regional court closest to the location of the defendant. Make sure to check on the court website, if this is the right court, but if you happen to send a lawsuit to the wrong court, it will be forwarded to the correct one. It will just take some time.
District courts (Sady Okregowe)
District courts are, in general, a second instance for regional courts. So if your case was settled by regional court, and any side appeals, it will be processed by district court. There are about 45 district courts in Poland. Judges have more experience, and promotion from regional court is not easy. There are some cases when it becomes the first instance courts. Those are cases regarding:
- non-property rights and jointly asserted property claims, except for cases for determination or denial of the origin of a child, for determination of ineffectiveness of acknowledgment of paternity and for dissolution of adoption;
- the Press Law;
- property rights where the value of the subject of the litigation exceeds 100 000 PLN, except for cases for alimony, for violation of possession, for establishing property separation between spouses and cases heard in electronic writ-of-payment proceedings;
- issuance of a ruling superseding a resolution on division of a co-operative society;
- revocation, declaration of invalidity or determination of the existence or non-existence of resolutions of bodies of legal persons or organisational entities which are not legal persons to which legal capacity is granted by law;
- compensation for damage caused by the issuance of a final and unlawful decision;
- violation of rights under data protection legislation.
Appeal courts (Sady apelacyjne)
Appeal courts are second instance courts for district courts. They also have some administrative duties, but those will probably not be of any interest to you. There are 11 appeal courts in Poland.
