When amicable debt collection fails, the creditor may sue the debtor in court. Until a few years ago, this was only possible in hard copy. Since January 4, 2010, the 6th Civil Division of the District Court Lublin-Zachód in Lublin handles cases in electronic format, with its jurisdiction extending to the whole country.
In electronic writ-of-payment proceedings (EPU), the provisions on writ-of-payment proceedings apply. The court issues a writ of payment if the plaintiff pursues a monetary claim regardless of the value of the dispute subject matter (including civil, commercial and employment claims). Claim legitimacy is examined at a closed hearing. If the evidence submitted in the statement of claim does not raise any doubts, the Court decides to issue a payment order. If the defendant does not file a note of opposition, the writ of payment becomes legally binding and the writ of execution is issued in the electronic system. This title of execution allows the creditor to refer the case to a bailiff and initiate execution proceedings.
E-proceedings entail benefits such as:
- Streamlining and speeding up the debt collection process;
- No need to file a hardcopy statement of claim and attachments; instead, all is done by electronic means;
- Reduction of costs of proceedings;
- Reduced time of issuance of the writ of payment;
- No need to apply for a writ-of-execution clause as the court grants it automatically;
- It is possible to file an execution request with a bailiff by means of an e-court account;
- The courts are offloaded with cases where the facts are fairly straightforward and do not require an evidentiary hearing;
- Communication between the plaintiff and the court takes place exclusively by electronic means;
- Communication between the defendant and the court takes place by traditional means, unless the defendant himself initiates electronic communication by sending an electronic letter.
E-proceedings have drawbacks as well:
- Waiting for an account to be set up in the system, to enable access to e-services (only before the first e-statement of claim filing);
- The e-statement of claim form is not intuitive and requires a lot of focus when filled out;
- Narrow scope of cases, only to those which do not raise formal or substantive doubts;
- In case of opposition to an issued e-writ of payment, the case is transferred for examination to a court competent for the defendant’s place of residence, which may be burdensome for the creditor;
- Claims may be pursued through the EPU if they became due at latest three years prior to the date of filing the statement of claim.
Please contact SCHITTULLI LAWYERS to learn more about the possibility of filing an e-statement of claim. Our lawyers provide services as a legal representative in e-proceedings, which will facilitate quick and effective filing of a statement of claim and obtaining the title of execution.