The Constitutional Tribunal's judgment will weaken the position of energy giants. Are they facing a wave of lawsuits?

The Constitutional Tribunal found the current concept of retroactive prescription to be unconstitutional, which means that transmission network operators will lose the opportunity to invoke the previous use of other people's land. The judgment will weaken their position in disputes and increase the owners' chances of obtaining benefits – Agnieszka Ryznar, president of Votum Odszkodowania, told PAP Biznes.

On December 2, 2025, the Constitutional Tribunal heard combined legal questions from the District Court in Grudziądz and the District Court in Brodnica regarding the rules for acquiring by adverse possession a land easement corresponding to the content of a transmission easement by a transmission undertaking or the State Treasury.

Courts have previously indicated that no constitutionally protected values ​​justify privileging transmission companies at the expense of property ownerswhich happens as a result of allowing the possibility of adverse possession of a land easement corresponding in content to a transmission easement at a time when the institution of a transmission easement was unknown in Poland.

The Constitutional Tribunal ruled on Tuesday that “Article 292 in connection with Article 285 § 1 and 2 of the Act of 23 April 1964 – Civil Code (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 1071, as amended), understood to enable the transmission undertaking or the State Treasury to acquire, before the entry into force of Art. 3051-3054 of the Civil Code, by adverse possession of a land easement corresponding to the content of a transmission easement, are inconsistent with Article 21, section 2 and 3 in connection with Article 31, section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

The Constitutional Tribunal found the current concept of retroactive adverse possession unconstitutional, which means that network operators will lose the opportunity to invoke decades of previous use of other people's land. This will weaken their position in disputes and increase the owners' chances of obtaining high benefits – often in the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of zlotys – Ryznar told PAP Biznes.

“In practice, these are situations in which power lines, gas pipelines or telecommunications networks have existed on private plots for even several decades, and the transmission company demands a declaration of adverse possession in order to avoid the need to pay remuneration. From today, transmission companies will have to regulate the legal status of thousands of kilometers of their infrastructure,” she added.

In her opinion, for property owners this means the possibility of questioning previous possession and claiming remuneration for many years of non-contractual use of the land by transmission companies.

According to Votum, Tuesday's judgment is of great importance both for property owners and the transmission market itself. For the former, it means the possibility of effectively claiming remuneration for the use of their land, and for the latter – the need to re-analyze legal titles, include potential claims in balance sheets and increase the transparency of relations with land owners.

According to previous information, Votum plans to develop the segment of cases involving claims related to the installation of transmission networks. (PAP Business)

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