Inheritance of compensation

The Court of Appeal in Kraków in its judgment of 25 October 2022 (III AUa 193/19) recalled that the right to demand compensation for the harm suffered – due to its personal nature – belongs only to the injured party, and therefore in principle expires upon his death, in accordance with Article 922 § 2 of the Civil Code. However, the transfer of the claim for compensation to the heirs of the injured party is possible if the claim has been recognized by the debtor in writing or if an action for this claim was filed while the injured party was still alive (Article 445 § 3 of the Civil Code). In such a situation, however, the subject of inheritance is not the right to compensation itself, but a specific claim for the amount covered by the recognition or claimed in the filed action.