Szkoda na mieniu wynikająca z wypadków komunikacyjnych

Abstract

This paper presents conclusions from a case file study covering 244 lawsuits conducted before various courts throughout Poland. The first part presents the basic information about the examined cases, such as the legal status of the claimant and the defendant, the value of claims pursued, the involvement of expert and other witnesses, the duration and outcome of the proceedings. Among the information provided in this part of the paper, it is worth emphasising that there is a relatively low percentage of claims pursued directly by law firms specialising in insurance recovery compared to the attention they receive in the media, evidence is quite frequent (some 80% of cases) taken from expert opinions, and such proceedings are relatively lengthy. The next part of the paper contains the fundamental dogmatic considerations, with references to views expressed in case law and literature, as well as data about individual kinds of property damage, such as ‘total loss’; the actual repair costs; compensation calculated using the method based on cost estimates; diminution in economic value of the vehicle; reimbursement of costs of renting a replacement vehicle; vehicle towing and parking costs; costs of private opinions of motor vehicle surveyors; and pre-litigation legal assistance. The conclusion from this part is that in the observed practice there are absolutely no claims for restoring the original condition in natura. They were replaced by claims for redressing the damage using cost estimates. At the same time it is observed that this method is abused, which means that it is also used when the obtained funds obviously cannot be used to restore the damaged vehicle to the original condition, because it cannot be repaired. The paper ends with proposals of legislative amendments and changes in the practice of applying the law. In line with these proposals it seems reasonable to amend the Civil Code so that it expressly provides for redressing the damage using a method based on cost estimates, which is the most frequent one used in practice. Even if no legislative amendments are introduced, it seems justified to correct the prevailing practice by abandoning the cost estimate method in cases when restoration to the original condition is impossible. The paper also presents proposals concerning compensation in the form of reimbursement of the costs of renting a replacement vehicle.