Maciej Obrębski and Konrad Figurski represented the heirs of the pre-war owner of the estate near Lviv, which found itself outside the borders of the Republic of Poland as a result of the border changes in 1945.
The case was special because on 1 September 1939, the owner was not living on the property because she had moved to be with her family in Greater Poland in August 1939. As a result, she did not meet the conditions for compensation based on the original wording of the Act on the realization of the right to compensation for leaving real estate outside the current borders of the Republic of Poland of 8 July 2005. It was not until the amendment of this act that it was possible to submit an application to the voivode in 2014.
Since the heirs did not have any data or documents concerning the real estates, it was necessary to conduct a thorough research in Poland and in Ukrainian archives. It was also necessary to find witnesses in Ukraine who could confirm that the owner had been living there before September 1939. All these activities were carried out by our office, and members of its team personally conducted the search in and around Lviv.
Due to the lack of an unambiguous interpretation of the provisions of the amending act, it became necessary for the case to be heard by the administrative courts, which in both instances confirmed the applicants’ position, despite the fact that the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration appealed the favourable verdict of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw to the Supreme Administrative Court.
It is worth emphasising that this is one of the few positive decisions in Poland on compensation for property on the other side of the river Bug issued under the amending act, despite the fact that it has been in force since 2014.
