RKKW lawyers prevent unlawful exclusion of a client from a company

A client of RKKW Law Firm, who was one of three partners in a general partnership in the construction industry, was sued by the other partners for his exclusion from the partnership. In this way, the plaintiffs attempted to remove a shareholder who was inconvenient for them from the partnership. The RKKW client questioned the actions of the other partners, which were detrimental to the company, as they were using the company’s assets to pursue their own interests. The exclusion of the partner – the RKKW client – was intended to create an open and peaceful space for them to continue their abuses.

During the proceedings, the opponents took a number of steps to demonstrate the alleged important reasons justifying the exclusion of the client from the company. Ultimately, the RKKW team proved that these ‘important reasons’ did not exist, and the court of first instance dismissed the claim in its entirety.

The plaintiffs did not give up and appealed against the entire judgment, accusing the court of first instance of making erroneous findings of fact in the case and misinterpreting the ‘important reasons’ justifying the exclusion of a partner from the company. However, the Court of Second Instance shared the position of the Court of First Instance and dismissed the appeal in its entirety, agreeing with the arguments put forward by RKKW’s lawyers.

The Court of Appeal emphasised, among other things, that it had not been demonstrated in the case that the defendant had committed any negative acts against the company, and that the circumstances referred to by the plaintiffs from several years ago, which were allegedly supposed to justify the exclusion, were in fact a pretext for eliminating the defendant from the company due to a conflict between him and the plaintiffs. However, a personal conflict between partners cannot be the reason for exclusion, especially when the defendant partner is not solely responsible for causing the conflict and the lack of trust.

The judgment is final.

The client was represented in the court dispute by legal advisor Maria Czaińska, Counsel at RKKW, and the project was coordinated by Karol Maciej Szymański, Managing Partner.