Abstract

There are two ways in which a court-appointed attorney can receive remuneration. First, if the party represented by the court-appointed attorney wins the case and is awarded reimbursement of expenses, pursuant to Art. 98 § 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, from the opponent who lost the case, then – pursuant to Art. 122 § 1 of the Code – the advocate or the attorney-at-law appointed by the court has the right, without involving the party, to collect the amount due to them and get reimbursement of expenses from the costs awarded from the opponent of the party they represented. By contrast, if the party represented by the court-appointed attorney loses the case or if the opponent is otherwise not required to reimburse the costs of the proceedings, the court-appointed attorney is entitled to claim the award of the remuneration by the court from the State Treasury funds. In its resolution of 7 October 2021, III CZP 51/20, the Supreme Court explained that the court-appointed attorney’s petition for the award of the costs of unpaid legal aid from the State Treasury did not contain an implicit demand for the award of the litigation costs from the opponent of the party they represented who won the case (Art. 98 § 1 and § 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure).