Disputes over goods quality in trade with Ukraine
In June 2024, one of the transport companies from Lublin got stuck with goods worth 84,200 PLN because the recipient questioned the chemical composition of the granulate. Waiting for an expert opinion appointed by the court usually takes from 7 to 11 months, which for a small importer means freezing cash and the risk of collapse. At Lublin Union Arbitrage, we use a different path that allows the topic to be closed in less than three weeks.
Why a court expert is a financial trap
The standard court path in Poland and Ukraine for goods disputes is brutal for financial liquidity. If a contractor claims that 47 tons of steel profiles you delivered in March 2024 have the wrong parameters, the court must appoint an expert. The list of experts is short, and the dates are distant. The average waiting time for the expert's visit to the port or warehouse in Dorohusk is currently 184 days. During this time, the goods deteriorate, and you pay for storage an average of 140 PLN net for each day of downtime.
At Lublin Union Arbitrage, we break with this pattern. In our opinion, court is a last resort when all other methods fail. Instead of waiting for dates to be set by officials, we introduce a technical arbitrator within 72 hours of reporting the problem. Our technical partners are people with experience in industry, not just in theory. Thanks to this, the assessment of the actual state of the product occurs while the evidence is still fresh, and not after half a year when corrosion or moisture have destroyed what was the subject of the dispute.
Discretion is our standard, so none of your competitors will find out about problems with a batch of goods. The technical documentation prepared by an independent expert in our process has the same evidentiary weight in commercial arbitration as an expert opinion in a common court, but costs a fraction of that amount. We focus on hard data: composition certificates, moisture measurements of wooden pallets, or concrete strength tests.
Waiting for a court expert for 184 days is a sentence for a small company, not legal help.
Lublin expert system – how it works
We cooperate with a group of 9 experts from Lublin and the surrounding area who specialize in bulk goods and electronics. When a quality dispute arises, we do not send a lawyer with a briefcase, but a technician with appropriate measuring equipment. For example, in July 2024, we resolved a dispute concerning 22 pallets of frozen berries. The recipient claimed that the temperature in the cold store rose above the norm. Our expert checked the logs from the temperature recorders in 4 hours and determined that the problem lay on the side of the client's unloading ramp, not the transport.
Clear rules of the game require that both sides of the dispute agree to the test. In 83% of the cases we conducted in the last year, the contractor from Ukraine agrees to Lublin Union Arbitrage arbitration because they want to maintain the commercial relationship, and not a multi-year trial. Our technical report is ready within 9 business days. It contains information in black and white about whether the goods are consistent with the order specification from the day the contract was concluded.
The cost of such an expert assessment is fixed and is usually 3,450 PLN net plus the expert's travel costs to the storage site. Compare this with the uncertain costs of a court process, where the filing fees alone can amount to 5% of the value of the dispute, and the expert's remuneration is determined by the court without your control. We solve the problem, we don't look for the guilty, which allows both companies to return to trade without burning bridges.
May 2024 case: Timber moisture dispute
One of our clients, a sawmill near Zamość, sent a transport of oak timber with a declared moisture content of 8% to a Ukrainian furniture manufacturer. After unloading, the recipient claimed that the wood had 14% moisture and demanded a price reduction of 24,500 PLN. The case was difficult because the wood lay on an unprotected square in high air humidity. The client contacted us on Thursday, and by the following Tuesday, our arbitrator was on site with a calibrated pin moisture meter.
The analysis showed that the moisture inside the boards was still 8.2%, and only the outer layer had pulled in water from the environment during a 48-hour stay on the recipient's square. Thanks to this evidence, the sawmill owner avoided a loss of 24,500 PLN, paying us only 1,900 PLN for the intervention and mediation. The entire process took 12 days from the phone call to the signing of the settlement ending the dispute. A court in the same case would likely have ruled against the sawmill, because the boards, after 6 months of waiting for an expert, would only be suitable for fuel.
(By the way, most quality disputes could be avoided if the goods collection protocol had more than two pages and contained a clear complaint procedure). At Lublin Union Arbitrage, we also help implement such procedures in your contracts so that you won't have to call us with a fire in the future. We rely on hard logic and facts that are difficult for the other side's lawyers to question.
Thanks to a test in 12 days, a sawmill from Zamość saved 24,500 PLN from an unfair complaint.
How to prepare for a quick dispute valuation
In order for us to act quickly, we need three things from you: a copy of the CMR waybill, a proforma invoice, and photos of the goods taken at the time of unloading. We do not need legal treatises. We are interested in what is in the package. In 2024, we served 47 active company accounts that regularly use our technical consultations before entering the legal path. This allows them to save an average of 12,800 PLN annually on expert opinion costs alone.
If the goods are currently stuck at the border or in a customs warehouse, do not delay. Every hour is a cost, and every day is an erasure of technical evidence. Our team of 5 specialists in the office in Lublin will analyze your case within 3 business hours. We will answer specifically: whether we can help and how much it will cost. We do not play with hidden commissions from winning – with us you pay for the specific work of the arbitrator and the time devoted to resolving the conflict.
Remember that Lublin Union Arbitrage is not a law firm that lives on dragging out disputes. We live on closing them. Our statistic is simple: 9 out of 10 cases conducted by Anna Lewandowska end in a pre-trial settlement within 21 days. These are clear rules of the game that are lacking in the traditional legal system. We focus on making sure your company can send the next transport, instead of wasting energy on writing pleadings.
