Commentary as part of #prawnikprzemysly to the Supreme Court's decision of September 2, 2021, issued in case file reference III CZP 11/21
Ladies and Gentlemen,
as we mentioned in yesterday's announcement, contrary to expectations, the full bench of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court did not adopt a resolution to resolve the discrepancies in rulings in Swiss franc cases. At the same time, after a multi-hour hearing, the Supreme Court's decision dated September 2, 2021, issued in the case in question (reference number III CZP 11/21), which is incidental in nature and not decisive on the merits of the case, was published on the Supreme Court's website.
Namely, the Supreme Court, pursuant to Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, decided to refer questions for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the compatibility with EU law of the provisions of national law and the procedure applied to some of the appointments to the office of Judge of the Supreme Court.
What does this mean for the parties to so-called Swiss franc disputes?
Decisions regarding further proceedings in individual proceedings will be made by the courts after hearing the positions of the disputing parties.
The practice to date shows that in most cases, the Banks request the suspension of the ongoing proceedings until the aforementioned Resolution is issued, while the Swiss Franc debtors oppose these motions and expect the court to continue the proceedings and to conclude them with a substantive decision, regardless of the planned adoption of the aforementioned Resolution by the Supreme Court.
Therefore, it can be predicted that in cases in which no procedural decision has been made regarding the suspension of proceedings, the courts will most likely continue the proceedings and – in the event of the conclusion of the evidentiary proceedings – rule without waiting for the substantive consideration of the motion of the First President of the Supreme Court.
However, in those cases in which the courts decided to suspend the proceedings until the adoption of a Resolution by the full bench of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court, resolving the differences in judgments, it should be expected that the court proceedings will remain suspended.
When can we expect the Supreme Court to adopt the Resolution?
This question cannot be answered unequivocally, or even approximately, as it depends on numerous circumstances. First, the Supreme Court will await the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in which the Court will answer the preliminary questions submitted by the Supreme Court yesterday. However, based on past practice, this will not happen until several months from now. Only after the Court resolves the Supreme Court's doubts will it proceed with the adoption of the Resolution. However, the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union may impact the procedural aspects of these proceedings, which will certainly not expedite the substantive conclusion of the case and the adoption of the Resolution.
Of course, we will keep you updated with any new information.
