What should you do if you need a person's personal information to file a lawsuit, but a government agency formally refuses to provide it?

About the Case

The company wished to file a civil lawsuit against an individual, but did not know that person’s residential address. Therefore, the company contacted a government agency (the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs), which is authorized to provide information contained in the Register of Natural Persons, requesting information about the individual’s place of residence. In its request, the company provided the individual’s first name, last name, address, bank account number, former place of employment, and a document from the State Police regarding the refusal to initiate criminal proceedings. The agency refused to provide the information, stating that the individual’s personal identification number was unknown. The organization appealed to the administrative court, which granted its petition and ordered the agency to disclose the requested information. The agency filed a cassation appeal against this judgment with the Senate.

The Court’s Conclusions

The Senate declined to initiate cassation proceedings, upholding the judgment of the court of first instance as correct.

The Senate noted: if the law requires a person to include the defendant’s personal data in a court petition, the state must, to the extent possible, ensure that the person can obtain this data—otherwise, the right to seek redress in court would be unjustifiably restricted. Therefore, upon receiving such a request for information, the authority must not take a purely formal approach—it must take an active role and, for its part, endeavor to assist in identifying the person whose data is being requested, including by cooperating with the requester. It is not permissible to refuse to provide information solely because a personal identification number has not been provided, since the country has not established a mechanism by which individuals can obtain the personal identification numbers of others.

The Senate also emphasized: if the requester has a legitimate interest—in this case, the need to file a civil lawsuit — and they wish to obtain the data of only one specific individual, a formal reference to data protection regulations or other individuals’ rights to privacy is not justified.

Practical Significance

The Senate’s ruling is relevant to anyone who needs to file a lawsuit but lacks complete information about the other party—for example, their residential address or personal identification number. The Senate confirms that government agencies may not formally reject requests for information based solely on the lack of a personal identification number or general data protection considerations if the requester has a legitimate interest and the information provided is sufficient to identify the individual. The authority is obligated to actively cooperate, to the extent possible, in helping to identify the person for whom the data is requested.

If you encounter a similar situation and a government agency refuses to provide the information necessary to file a lawsuit, please contact our office—we will help you assess your options and, if necessary, represent your interests.