Decision of the Court of Appeals in Wrocław 2nd Civil Division of 28th October 2014
I ACz 2137/14

1. Standardisation of the value of claims means raising in the group proceedings claims of identical value for all members of the group. The diversification of the value of the claims among the members of the group is possible only with the use of subgroups, in such a way that all members of a given subgroup pursue claims of the same value, whereas the value of the claims may be different in case of members of different subgroups. Article 21 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings expressly refers to the standardisation of the value of claims, and not, for example, “standardisation of the rules for calculation of claims”. Joining the group entails the group member’s consent for his claim to be standardised.
2. Formal requirements regarding the declaration on joining the group are precisely set forth by Article 12.1 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, under which the entitled party in the declaration on joining the group should specify his or her demand and indicate the circumstances substantiating both the demand and the group membership, and also present the evidence.
3. Three stages making it possible to submit a declaration on joining the group are distinguished: 1) the period until the moment of filing a statement of claims (Article 6.2 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings), 2) the period of up to two months as of the date of announcement on commencement of the group proceedings (Article 11.1 of the Act), 3) the period until the conclusion of the proceedings in the first instance (Article 13.2 of the Act).
4. The list of group members along with the attached declarations on joining the group is considered – at the moment it is filed with the court – as a procedural letter of a specific type. The Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings provides for no requirements regarding the form and content of the list of members joining the group. It is of relevance for the list to mention persons who have joined the group and for the content of declarations to comply with the content of the list. In the event of discrepancies, the court may summon the representative to remove the defects or, relatively, refuse to include individual parties in the decision on the composition of the group. The list should include both the parties who joined the group after the announcement on commencement of the proceedings, as well as those covered by the statement of claims from the beginning and, potentially, those, who joined the group in the meantime.