Tbilisi City Court rendered an important decision regarding the contract clause between medical institutions which stipulated the obligation of the parties to send the patients to each other for providing particular medical services.

The subject matter of a dispute was an application of penalty for the “breach” of the abovementioned provision. The court denied the suit and decided in favour of the counterclaim declaring the disputed clause void. Court stipulated that “the parties of the civil-law relations have right to freely choose the subject matter of the contract and define the limits of their obligations but there is no absolute freedom in contractual relations”. the Court has based its decision on the Article 54 of the Georgian Civil Code and Article 8 of the Law of Georgia on Patient Rights. According to the Article 8 the patient has the right to choose and change the medical institution anytime. Therefore, the Court has decided that the disputed provision was against the patient’s autonomy and hence it contravened the law and morality.

Interns of the New Vision University Legal Aid Office represented the respondent during the court proceedings.