Decision of the Court of Appeals in Gdańsk 1st Civil Division of 14th May 2013
I ACz 464/13

1. The formal requirements indicated in Article 12 of the Act of 17 December 2009 on pursuing claims in group proceedings of a declaration on joining to the group applies also to those persons who are initially acceding to this group.
2. The legislator recognized that the condition for the initiation of group proceedings is (apart from the fulfillment of the subjective premise) the pursuit of claims fulfilling the premises indicated in Article 1 section 1 of the Act. The pursued claims have to be homogeneous, meaning of one type, and based on the common factual basis. The claims based on the common factual basis are claims, the basis of which constitute the same factual basis (premise in the narrow sense) or claims, whose significant factual circumstances are similar (equal, premise in the wide sense). Of course, differences can exist between the individual grounds of the claims, however, it is necessary for the significant factual circumstances to substantiate the common demands for all of the claims.
3. The institution of securing the costs of the group proceedings is of a non-mandatory nature. The possibility of obligating the claimant to its submission lies within the competence of the court. The deposit serves the protection of the interests of the defendant against unsubstantiated statements of claims, when the claimant’s asset status does not give a warranty of their covering. The payment of a court fee on the statement of claims by the claimant, and also a significant number of persons joining to the group seems to prejudge the lack of legitimacy of the demand derived from Article 8 section 1 of the Act.