RKKW defends its clients against enforcement of PLN 50 million

Under two security orders, the District Court in Szczecin prohibited our clients’ opponent from applying for an enforcement clause on statements of submission to execution up to the amount of PLN 50 million, and in one of the orders additionally threatened the obligor with a penalty of PLN 5 million for violation of the order. As a result, there was no unlawful execution of our clients’ assets.

One of our clients has entered into an agreement for the sale of shares in a company in the construction industry. As part of this agreement, he made representations and warranties about the condition of the company itself as well as its shares. The parties stipulated contractual penalties of PLN 50 million for making false representations. Payment of the contractual penalties was secured by a surety on the part of RKKW’s other two clients, and execution of the surety was secured by their statements of submission to execution. The buyer of the shares alleged that two of the statements submitted by our client were false, and charged our client with a contractual penalty of PLN 50 million. It then sent our client a summons for payment and initiated a procedure that would allow it to apply for an enforcement clause against the guarantors and, consequently, initiate enforcement.

On behalf of our clients, we filed motions for injunctive relief to establish the non-existence of claims for contractual penalties. The court agreed with our position that the penalties had been charged unjustifiably, and under two security orders prohibited the buyer of the shares from applying for an enforcement clause on the statements of submission to execution. In one of the orders, he additionally threatened the obligor with a fine of PLN 5 million for violating the order. The security orders are not final.

Even before one of the orders was served, the purchaser of the shares had applied for an enforcement clause on the statements of submission to execution. We promptly informed the court hearing this application that security orders had been entered in the case. As a result, our opponent decided to withdraw the applications for clauses, and the proceedings in these cases were discontinued. Thus, the buyer of the shares did not succeed in initiating enforcement against our clients.

In all these proceedings, clients are represented by Konrad Oleszczuk (counsel) with the support of Wiktoria Warszawska (associate) and Maciej Jankiewicz (junior associate). Legal services for clients, meanwhile, are headed by Karol Maciej Szymanski, managing partner.