On behalf of Galicja Brokers, I am pleased to inform you that the Court of Appeal in Kraków fully agreed with the arguments of the FORWARDING COMPANY that I represented and upheld the judgment of the District Court in Kraków, awarding the Insurance Company almost PLN 114,000 and PLN 63,000 in interest and court costs from the FORWARDER'S third party liability insurance policy.

In the case in question, the FORWARDER commissioned a Czech transport company to transport goods via the TRANS.EU exchange. As it turned out, the same company picked up a dozen or so loads from the exchange in different parts of Europe at the same time. All loads were stolen by a fake carrier.

The damage was reported to the insurer under the FORWARDER'S third party liability policy. The insurer refused compensation, arguing that the insurance does not cover damage to the transported goods during transport, and the event occurred after the completion of the forwarding activities.

After 6 years, the Courts of First and Second Instance fully agreed with the position of the forwarding company that I represented, that in the case in question the plaintiff acted as a forwarder in accordance with Article 794 et seq. of the Civil Code. This is not about causing damage to the transported goods, but about causing damage through improper performance of the forwarder's duties. The forwarder is liable to the forwarding party for selecting the carrier. The selection of the carrier can be assumed to be the leading task of the forwarder. As a result of the fault in selecting the carrier, the damage occurred.

This judgment confirms the correctness of the position presented by our Client and constitutes an important decision regarding the insurer's liability under the FORWARDER'S third party liability insurance policy.

Legal adviser Jerzy Klimkowski

Galicja Brokers is an insurance broker offering motor and property insurance with a very wide scope of protection and professional claims settlement, including legal assistance in courts.