Why has a court requested me to state the address of the company I sue when I don’t know the address and don’t know where to find it?
Data:
Civil court proceedings are formalised, which means that there are principles and procedural rules stipulated by regulations in force, primarily the Code of Civil Procedure (KPC) that must be complied with by courts, judges and participants of court cases. The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, such as Article 126(1) and (2), say that when filing a suit, the petitioner must state full details including the residence address or the address of the registered office of the defendant. (Otherwise, the court cannot serve process and thus court proceedings cannot be carried out.)
A petition that does not state full and correct details of the person or company that is being sued is considered to have formal defects. The court requests the petitioner to supplement the missing details within 7 days from being served with the request under the procedure established by Article 130 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the formal defects are not supplemented within the statutory deadline, the court orders to return the petition (the petitioner is then sent the court’s decision, while the petition remains in court files without any legal effects, as if it has never been filed).
If it is necessary to find or check the current address of the registered office of a company, such information can be obtained from register bodies competent for the form of operation of the company: from the National Court Register (Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy – KRS) if the company is a legal person, e.g. a limited company or a joint stock company, or from the economic activity register kept by administration bodies competent for the place of activity: City or Gmina Halls if the business is run by a natural person. To run a business, all economic operators (entrepreneurs) must register and all the forms of such registration require stating the address and many other details, and updating them in the case of any changes. Enterprise registers are public so that competent authorities, natural persons and legal persons have access to the data on specific enterprises they need, such as addresses.
The address of a natural person can be obtained from Vital Records Bureaux (biuro ewidencji ludności) run by field administration bodies or from the Central Address Bureau (Centralne Biuro Adresowe) in Warsaw.