Our state aid and litigation teams joined forces to represent the defendant in a case for payment of nearly 55 million PLN. The case, which revolved around the terms of a public transport service contract, was resolved in favor of our client. What exactly was the dispute about and what was crucial to its resolution?

Background to the dispute

The parties to the case were the organizer and operator of public transport. The latter (Polregio S.A.) sued our client (Voivodeship of Kujawsko-Pomorskie) for payment of almost 55 million PLN plus interest.

The plaintiff claimed that this was the amount of underpayment of the so-called compensation - remuneration for public rail transport services in the province. The underpayment was allegedly due to an incorrect - according to Polregio S.A. - mechanism for calculating the compensation contained in the public service contract.

Thanks to our arguments, the court recognized the contract between Polregio S.A. and the Voivodeship of Kujawsko-Pomorskie as valid and in accordance with the regulations. As a result, the court of first instance dismissed the action in its entirety, releasing our client from the payment of a multi-million compensation.

What makes this case stand out?

The dispute involved elements of various areas of law. Aspects related to state aid, as well as regulations on public transport and civil law (including the topics of limitation and freedom of contract) were relevant here.

In addition, the issues that were crucial to the course of the trial were largely derived from European law. Therefore, it was necessary to take into account the case law of the CJEU in order to prepare the appropriate argumentation.

Kamil Ciupak, Mateusz Kisiela and Paweł Bury took care of a comprehensive approach to the case and effective client representation. Congratulations to the whole team that was involved in the process!