Let’s talk about accommodation

Accommodation claims in personal injury cases are still not very common in Poland. Moreover, when they are pursued, they usually boil down to adaptation of a home or flat, rather than purchase of a new real property.  Is there a good reason for that, though?

First things first, under Polish law there is the principle of full compensation. Further to that, all necessary legal basis for an accommodation claim – be it for the adaptation or the purchase of a real property – to be allowed, is in place.

In a way, this is confirmed by the judgment of the Supreme Court dated 13 September 2007, case reference no III CSK 109/07. In this case the Claimant, who became disabled following an RTA, was awarded a sum necessary to purchase a new real property (a flat), of 140 000 PLN, and then also an additional sum to adapt it – 35 000 PLN (175 000 PLN in total for the accommodation claim alone).

This does not yet mean that sufficiently proving such a claim is easy, though, and particularly so when it comes to the purchase of a new real property.  In such cases the court would most certainly require proof that the purchase is necessary and justified. It could be said that in order for such a claim to be successful, in given circumstances there should be no other reasonable choice than to purchase a new real property.

As an example, we are currently litigating a case where our Client is pursuing the costs of purchase of a new real property, instead of adaptation, and this is mainly because he does not own any real property. He is living in his parent’s house, which they generously allow, but which he obviously cannot adapt, even if he wanted to/had the resources necessary to do it. Naturally, the currently occupied real property also does not suit his needs, resulting from his disability, so it is indeed necessary to purchase a new one. The case is currently still ongoing, but we are hopeful for a positive outcome, and will make sure to report on it once available!

The good part is that, other than any potential indemnity limits, there are no caps on what can be recovered in regard to such a claim. Moreover, the court, if allowing the claim in principle (if sufficient proof is provided), should consider, among other things, the country where the Claimant actually resides, and award a proper amount. This means that if a Claimant residing in another country was succesful in litigating such a claim in Poland, in my opinion the Polish court should award an amount that allows for the purchase of a real property in that country, and not one in Poland (the latter of which would probably not be very helpful to the Claimant).

Having that in mind, what seems like the biggest obstacle to claims concerning costs of purchase of a new real property is the requirement to prove that such purchase is indeed necessary and justified, contrary to, in particular, adaptation. The latter is usually significantly cheaper, and there is no doubt in my mind that this impacts the court’s decision, sometimes heavily. It would be my hope that, moving forward, more weight will be given to compensatiing tort victims fully – even if it is costly.