In cases involving defective vehicles, a key piece of evidence can sometimes disappear before the case reaches court. The car is seized by the police and is about to be released to a foreign owner. The seller plans to resell the vehicle or send it for scrapping. In such situations, the standard pace of civil proceedings may simply be too slow. The law provides a specific procedure for exactly these circumstances – the preservation of evidence.
What Preservation of Evidence Is
Article 310 of the Code of Civil Procedure allows a court to preserve evidence where there is a risk that conducting it will become impossible or significantly more difficult. An application can be made both before a claim is filed and during the course of proceedings.
The purpose is to enable an evidentiary step to be taken – most commonly an inspection of the vehicle by an expert – before the evidence is lost or becomes inaccessible. Evidence preserved in this way carries full evidential weight in the main proceedings.
When It Is Worth Filing an Application
The vehicle is about to be taken abroad. This is the most common situation in our practice. Where a defective vehicle is secured by the police and is about to be released to a foreign owner, having an expert’s inspection carried out abroad would be considerably more expensive and logistically complicated. An application for preservation of evidence allows the expert’s inspection to take place in Poland, before the vehicle leaves.
The vehicle is about to be resold or scrapped. Where the seller plans to dispose of the vehicle before the case reaches court, the opportunity to carry out an expert inspection will be gone. An application for preservation of evidence prevents this.
Witnesses are planning to go abroad. Preservation of evidence can also cover the examination of witnesses whose later availability is uncertain.
The vehicle’s condition may change. In cases where the technical condition of the car at the time of sale is critical, a subsequent repair or further damage can destroy the evidence. An inspection carried out on the basis of a preservation application documents the vehicle’s condition at a specific point in time.
How to File the Application
The application is submitted to the district court with jurisdiction over the place where the evidence is to be examined – or, where proceedings are already under way, to the court handling the case.
The application should include: identification of the evidence to be preserved (for example, an inspection of the vehicle by a court-appointed automotive engineering expert), the circumstances giving rise to the concern that the evidence will be lost or its examination significantly impeded, the proposed manner of preservation, and the purpose it is intended to serve.
The court fee for an application to preserve evidence is PLN 100.
How Quickly the Court Acts
Given the urgent nature of preservation, courts treat such applications as a priority. In typical cases a decision is made within a few days of the application being filed. This is one of the key advantages of the procedure – it allows action to be taken far more quickly than through the ordinary evidential process.
A complaint lies against a decision dismissing the application.
A Practical Example
From our practice: a client had withdrawn from a vehicle purchase contract on grounds of defects. The car was secured by the police and was about to be released to a foreign owner. The client was claiming not only the return of the purchase price but also reimbursement of expenditure incurred on the vehicle after purchase. Carrying out an inspection and expert report abroad would have been costly and logistically complex. The application for preservation of evidence allowed an expert to carry out an inspection in Poland, before the vehicle was released, and the necessary evidential material to be gathered for the subsequent proceedings.
Contact Us
Where there is a risk of losing key evidence in your case, it is important to consult a lawyer as soon as possible – an application for preservation of evidence requires precise preparation and prompt action.
It pays to be properly prepared: both in knowing what you can claim and in having a clear strategy.
We handle cases for drivers in Poznań and across the Wielkopolska region, with in-person and online consultations available for clients elsewhere in Poland.
Adwokat Marta Krzyżanowicz and Adwokat Michalina Koligot Law Firm “Adwokat dla Kierowców w Poznaniu”
ul. Adama Mickiewicza 18/3, 60-834 Poznań
tel. +48 795 001 536 · +48 531 335 713
kontakt@adwokatdlakierowcy.pl · www.adwokatdlakierowcy.pl
This text is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case requires individual analysis.
