We are pleased to inform you that the District Court for Kraków - Śródmieście in Kraków, 5th Commercial Division, ordered the insurer to pay the entire requested amount (several tens of thousands of zlotys) from the insurer to the contractual carrier, which I represented (several tens of thousands of zlotys) together with statutory interest from August 2021.

The client commissioned a subcontractor to transport construction chemicals with the stipulation that the tanker should be washed in a certified car wash. As it turned out, the subcontractor washed the tank himself, without having the appropriate tools and authorizations, and as a result, the transported goods were contaminated.

During production, as a result of adding contaminated goods, the manufactured goods were found to be completely unfit for use (20 tons of construction putty). The cause of the damage was improper cleaning of the tanker from sand and other minerals by the subcontractor.

The insurer paid compensation under the carrier's liability insurance policy, but only for the goods transported in the tanker, but refused to pay for the contaminated finished product.

During the trial, I showed that the subcontractor had behaved grossly negligent without washing the tanker in a certified car wash, and therefore in accordance with Art. 86 of the Act of November 15, 1984, Transport Law "The limits on the amount of compensation provided for in the Act do not apply if the damage resulted from the carrier's willful misconduct or gross negligence."

Therefore, the entitled person may seek full compensation from the carrier, covering both losses (damnum emergens) and lost but expected benefits that could have been achieved if the damage had not been caused (lucrum cessans).

Due to the above, please remember that the carrier's liability insurance policy should include, among others: protection against gross negligence with a very high guarantee sum.

Legal adviser Jerzy Klimkowski

Galicja Brokers offers carrier liability insurance in domestic and international traffic with a very wide scope of protection