The Regional Court of Krakow, in a verdict dated April 24, 2024, dismissed in its entirety the gas seller’s claim against a natural gas customer, in a case for payment of contractual penalties under a contract for the sale of gas fuel.
This is another success for the law firm in representing a gas customer, in a situation where a contractual penalty was imposed by the gas seller for failure to consume the volume of natural gas specified in the contract.
The parties entered into a contract for the supply of gas fuel under which, the gas seller undertook to supply gas fuel to the point of consumption. According to the gas seller, the parties agreed on the minimum volumes of gas fuel that would be received during its term.
For reasons beyond its control, the gas customer was not able to receive the gas in the quantities specified in the gas sales contract. As a result, the gas seller issued an interest note as a contractual penalty for not consuming the minimum quantity of gas. According to the gas seller, the parties agreed that in the event that, the customer failed to purchase the specified quantity of gas fuel during the contract period, he would be obliged to pay the gas seller a contractual penalty for each 1 kWh of gas fuel representing the difference between the contractual mandatory quantity and the quantity actually received.
The recipient proved that there were no prerequisites for the payment of contractual penalties in the case, and the Court shared the argumentation of the law firm’s lawyers in its entirety, indicating that the claim did not merit consideration and there were no grounds for awarding contractual penalties for the obligation to take a minimum amount of natural gas.
The law firm’s client was represented by attorney Joanna Legun and legal counsel Kacper Skalski
The verdict is not final and a possible appeal by the gas fuel seller is possible.
