Case law > Decision of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 11th April 2019

Decision of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 11th April 2019
I ACz 182/19

  1. Declarations on joining the group are the object of the group representative’s control in the sense that the group representative may take steps aimed to improve the content of the declaration by a group member (in the manner corresponding to the demand of the statement of claims). As a consequence, the group representative may take steps aimed to make a decision whether the declaration should be submitted to a court or not.
  2. A group representative may prove by all possible means of evidence (by e-mail and correspondence register as well) that a declaration on joining the group was timely submitted. The minimum content of the declaration should include explicit will to participate in the group proceedings (interpreted in particular in the light of directives arising from the Article 65 para 1 of the PCC).
  3. An announcement on commencement of group proceedings aims to spread the word about pending proceedings, so that interested parties obtain information about the proceedings and its object which are sufficient to decide whether join the proceedings.
  4. By issuing a decision on composition of the group, a court not only decides on participation of the particular persons in the group, but also assesses the correctness of including group members in subgroups.

The Court of Appeals in Warsaw 1st Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Presiding Judge:           Marzena Konsek-Bitkowska, Court of Appeals Judge (rapporteur)

Judges:                           Katarzyna Jakubowska-Pogorzelska, Court of Appeals Judge

                                        Dagmara Olczak-Dąbrowska, Regional Court Judge (delegated)

having examined on 11th April 2019 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the action filed by Municipal Consumer Ombudsman (…) W. against Towarzystwo (…) S.A. with its registered office in W. for payment,

following the both parties’ complaints against the decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw of 7th September 2018, file ref. no. I C 464/16, on the composition of the group,

hereby decides to:

I. set aside the contested decision:

  1. in point 1., in the part related to the following persons: [data of 7 persons],
  2. in point 2., in the part related to the following persons: [data of 45 persons],

and in this regard refer the case back to the court of the first instance for reconsideration;

II. partially vary the contested decision in point 1. and 2. in such manner that establish that K.B. is a member of the group represented by Municipal Consumer Ombudsman (…) ;

III. dismiss the remainder of the defendant’s complaint;

IV. entrust the court of the first instance to decide on the costs of proceedings on complaint in a final ruling.