Gloss to the Decision of the Supreme Court of 28 November 2019, file reference number III CSK 275/17

The thesis expressed in the glossed judgment that the poviat bears sole responsibility for the damage caused by the issuing of a defective administrative decision by the starost as part of the architectural and construction administration is, in principle, correct. However, this responsibility does not result – as the Court assumed in the commented judgment – from the nature of the tasks performed by the starost, but from the current legal regulations contained in the Civil Code (Art. 417 § 2). Incorrect determination of the nature of the tasks in the field of architectural and construction administration resulted in the dismissal of claims for damages against the State Treasury and local government unit despite the fact that at the time when the decision on the building permit was taken, Art. 4202 of the Civil Code, providing for joint liability of the State Treasury and of a local government unit for damages caused in the performance of government administration tasks specified by law, was in force.