Judgment Print

The existence and scope of damage caused by the issuance of an unlawful final ruling; the court’s jurisdiction to adjudicate in the above case SK 14/19

Ref. No. SK 14/19

JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND

Warsaw, 26 September 2023

The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:

Wojciech Sych – Presiding Judge
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Jakub Stelina – Judge Rapporteur,

having considered, at a sitting in camera on 26 September 2023 – in accordance with Article 92(1)(1) of the Act of 30 November 2016 on the Organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Mode of Proceedings Before the Constitutional Tribunal (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2019, item 2393) – the constitutional complaint of […] (a limited liability company under Polish law) with its registered office in T., lodged with the Constitutional Tribunal to assess the conformity of:

1) Article 361(2) in conjunction with Article 417¹(2) of the Civil Code of 23 April 1964 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2017 item 459) in conjunction with Article 424¹ (1) of the Civil Procedure Code of 17 November 1964 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2016 item 1822) – construed as correlating the existence and scope of damage caused by the issuance of an unlawful final ruling with the requirement that the said damage must occur no later than at the moment of issuing the unlawful ruling as well as understood in the way that the notion of ‘damage caused by an unlawful final ruling’ does not comprise court fees, lawsuit expenses, and enforcement costs – to Article 77(1) of the Constitution,

2) Article 29 in conjunction with Article 17(4⁴) of the Civil Code – insofar as the norm concerns the court’s exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate on compensation for the damage caused by issuing an unlawful final ruling, which has been issued by the same court – to Article 45(1) of the Constitution,

adjudicates as follows:

Article 29 in conjunction with Article 17(4⁴) of the Civil Procedure Code of 17 November 1964 (Journal of Laws – of 2023 item 1550, as amended) – insofar as the norm specifies the court’s jurisdiction to adjudicate on compensation for damage caused by an unlawful final ruling which has been issued by the same court – is consistent with Article 45(10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

Moreover, the Tribunal decides:

to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.

The ruling was unanimous.

Wojciech Sych
Krystyna Pawłowicz (dissenting opinion)
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Jakub Stelina