In its ruling of August 6, 2025, the Court of Appeals in Krakow dismissed in its entirety the appeals of the defendant Bank and the intervener on the defendant’s side – the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture – against the judgment of the Regional Court in Krakow of April 13, 2023, which was entirely favorable to our Law Firm’s Client.
The Client of our Law Firm sought reimbursement from the Bank of nearly PLN 250,000 in funds unduly collected by the Bank from her account, which she had previously received from the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture as a subsidy for interest on an investment loan agreement for the purchase of agricultural land. The Bank unreasonably concluded that the Client had improperly performed the loan agreement and decided to recover the subsidies on the basis of a discretionary decision that was inconsistent with the provisions of the loan agreement. The bank incorrectly claimed that the Client of our Law Firm had ceased agricultural activity on the purchased land due to a change of an applicant in the annual applications for so-called area subsidies. According to the bank, the Client was obliged to use the agricultural land personally.
As a result of the lawsuit filed by the Client, the Regional Court in Krakow ordered the Bank to return the unduly collected loan subsidies together with interest and costs of the proceedings, recognizing, among other things – as argued by our Law Firm – that the creditor may demand personal performance by the debtor only if this results from the content of the legal transaction, the law or the nature of the performance (Article 356 § 1 of the Civil Code). None of these conditions were met in this case. The appeals were dismissed in their entirety by the Court of Appeal, which also awarded the Law Firm’s Client reimbursement of the costs of the appeal proceedings. Ultimately, our Client received over PLN 400,000, including interest and costs.
Case No.: I C 2593/20; I ACa 1894/23
