On 15 November 2018 Bartosz Groele, an advocate and Partner of the Law Firm, together with Małgorzata Sawa, attorney-at-law, participated in an open hearing before the Supreme Court concerning the legal issue submitted by the District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw in connection with the doubt that arose over the issue of joint marital co-ownership in bankruptcy proceedings for the so called consumers. The Supreme Court considered the case, file number III CPZ 59/18, to adjudicate whether proper application of Article 124 section 1 of the Act on Bankruptcy Law in the proceedings towards natural persons not operating business activity should result in a conclusion that if on the day of the declaration of bankruptcy the spouses were subject to marital joint co-ownership regime, then all their assets constitute bankruptcy estate and their division is inadmissible.
The District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw submitted the legal question within the framework of bankruptcy proceedings, file number X GUp 767/17, where the natural person not operating business activity was represented by the restructuring advisor Jarosław Mrożek. However, the adjudication of the legal question may have a bearing for several thousand persons who were faced with the so called consumer bankruptcy.
The Supreme Court, having acknowledged the standpoint expressed by the attorneys regarding the importance of the legal issue in question and its bearing on the conduct of bankruptcy proceedings and the legal consequences and social impact, made a decision to refer the case for adjudication to the Supreme Court sitting in full panel.