To the Court in a new way. What will change for entrepreneurs?

On 4.07.2019 an amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) was passed. The law has already been signed by the President. The scope of the changes is huge and is mainly of interest to lawyers and other practitioners. However, certain changes are so important for business that it is advisable to outline them for entrepreneurs as they may affect the reality of their business.

1. Settlement of the case on the first date or hearings are to be the rule, and it will also be possible to schedule hearings day by day. Reality will show whether this will be realistic.
2. The entrepreneur filing the lawsuit will be required to state in the lawsuit your e-mail address Which will be a formal requirement of the lawsuit. The same obligation applies to the defendant in the response to the lawsuit.
3. Preparatory meeting. The court will try to persuade the parties to settle the dispute amicably, and if this does not happen then it will work out a trial plan together with the parties, including the demands, issues in dispute, hearing dates, evidence, witnesses, etc.
4. No more serving a lawsuit on an advice letter. If the defendant has not received the letter initiating the proceedings, the court will oblige the plaintiff to serve the suit through the bailiff within 2 months under pain of suspension of the proceedings. This is a bad change for entrepreneurs struggling with disappearing debtors.
5. Primacy of documentary evidence. Witnesses will be interviewed only exceptionally (when, after other evidence, significant facts still remain unexplained), and it will also be possible to call a party / witness to make a statement /. written testimony. This is good news - as it will streamline proceedings and may prevent the unwarranted and, until now, often preferred witness evidence. The above may also relieve managers of the burden of traveling to the Courts to testify. If a witness is already summoned then... the party should ensure that he or she appears at the hearing on the appointed date - when the party has requested this witness. Thus, it seems that coming to the hearing of a party with a witness will no longer be frowned upon.
6. Interest on litigation costs will be taken into account in court rulings which is a new and welcome development.
7. Proof agreement - is the ability of the parties to agree on the inclusion of certain evidence in the proceedings of a case from a specific legal relationship arising under the contract. Practice will show the direction of the application of this institution, although in business, and especially in the b2b financial services sector, this instrument offers potentially great opportunities.
8. While still in the process, the Court (if necessary) may Inform the parties of the likely outcome of the case. What was previously unthinkable makes our process somewhat similar to the American one. If this institution is used boldly but prudently - then it should help increase the number of settlements and withdrawn lawsuits and thus speed up cases.
9. Limitation of deduction during trial. The allegation of set-off will only be able to relate to a non-contentious claim, proven by a document / originating from the same legal relationship, and must be made in writing prior to entering into a dispute on the merits. This restriction is expected to speed up proceedings and will undoubtedly affect the line of defense in many lawsuits, especially those arising from construction work.
10. Limiting changes in the process. It will be more difficult to change the lawsuit, post-suit will be inadmissible. Any lawsuit in b2b cases should therefore be well thought out and precisely structured.
11. Counteracting obstruction. The amendment introduces several changes to prevent obstruction of the proceedings, abuse of powers and so-called "foaming at the mouth." The court will gain the ability to leave certain pleadings "unrecognized." These changes are good news for entrepreneurs, especially honest ones.
12. Email delivery. Trial attorneys will be able to serve pleadings with attachments on each other electronically if they make consensual statements to the court to this effect and indicate contact information.
13. Increases in court costs. Court fees will increase, especially in lower-value cases, but the maximum fee will also rise from PLN 100,000 to PLN 200,000. Significantly, the biggest increase will apply to a settlement attempt in high-value cases - instead of a fixed fee (300 PLN) there will be a fee of 1.25% of the value of the dispute - for example, with a claim for 1,000,000 PLN it will be 12,500 PLN (instead of the previous 300 PLN). Meanwhile, this instrument has often been used to break the statute of limitations in some way at little cost. A fee of PLN 100 for a request for justification of a judgment will also be introduced. A lawsuit for revocation of a resolution will also be more expensive - PLN 5,000 instead of the previous PLN 2,000. A lawsuit to reconcile the contents of the land and mortgage register with a dispute value of more than PLN 40,000 will cost PLN 2,000.

# Summary.

The law will revolutionize proceedings and will come into force, as a rule, 3 months after the announcement, and some of the amended provisions - including on court fees - even after 14 days. Contrary to appearances, the changes are important not only for lawyers, but also for entrepreneurs. For example - entrepreneurs should now take care to refine as much as possible the contractual templates that will be the basis for settling disputes. Personal evidence will recede into the background. It will be important to have up-to-date data of the other party. It will be important to perform the contract in accordance with its content, and any deviations should not be made verbally under any circumstances. E-mail correspondence is already becoming normal evidence.