Commentary on the judgment of the Supreme Court, Civil Chamber, of 15 January 2021, file reference V CSKP 201/21

Abstract

This commentary is an attempt to analyse the basis and scope of compensatory liability of an expert witness for a prepared expert opinion in the context of the judgment of the Supreme Court, Civil Chamber, of 15 January 2021 (file reference: V CSKP 201/21). The study contains considerations on the impact of an expert opinion prepared in court proceedings on the content of the decision delivered in the case. In this context, the role and procedural conduct of a party in the proceedings become especially vital, including the party’s exercise of its procedural rights and legal instruments allowing to questioning an expert witness’s opinion and the findings made by the expert in such opinion. A matter of equal importance is the question of the statute of limitation for claims asserted against an expert witness, particularly, the starting date of the 3-year period (Art. 4421 § 1 CC) and method of ascertaining the 20-year period (art. 4421 § 2 CC). In the summary, an attempt was made to specify practical consequences of adopting an expert witness’s liability as proposed by the Supreme Court in the judgment of 15 January 2021.