Monitor Prawniczy

no. 8/2015

Legal interest of a shareholder in appealing against a resolution of the Supervisory Board of a company

Marcin Śledzikowski
Doktorant w Katedrze Prawa Gospodarczego i Handlowego na Wydziale Prawa, Administracji i Ekonomii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, aplikant radcowski w Kancelarii Prawnej Schampera, Dubis, Zając i Wspólnicy Sp. k. (SDZLEGAL SCHINDHELM) we Wrocławiu.
Abstract

The Supervisory Board, in particular in a joint stock company, has – apart from supervisory duties – many important powers, among other things to appoint and recall members of the Management Board. Being a collective body, the Supervisory Board adopts decisions in the form of resolutions. That is why the possibility to appeal against the resolutions of the Supervisory Board in an extremely important issue. This article presents the problems of challenging resolutions of supervisory boards and management boards of shareholding companies by application of Art. 189 of the Code of Civil Procedure, i.e. by filing an action to establish existence of a legal relationship. The possibility of doing so depends of the existence of legal interest on the part of the plaintiff – a shareholder. However, according to the Supreme Court judgement of 14 March 2012, II CSK 252/11 legal interest of a shareholder is restricted only to the situation whereby the challenged resolution affects their shareholding rights.