Decision of the Regional Court for Warsaw-Praga in Warsaw 3rd Civil Division of 24th September 2013
III C 491/12

The Regional Court for Warsaw-Praga, 3rd Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Presiding Judge:  Ewa Dietkow, Regional Court Judge

Judges:  Beata Karczewska-Mazur, Regional Court Judge, Radosław Olszewski, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 24th September 2013 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case filed by S.P. against J.W. (…) joint-stock company for payment

hereby decides to:

  1. publicly announce the commencement of the group proceedings in the case filed by S.P., acting as the representative of the group, against (…) joint-stock company, file ref. no. III C 491/12 for payment, by displaying the the following announcement in the court’s building for a period of one month:

‘The Regional Court for Warsaw-Praga in Warsaw, 3rd Civil Division hereby announces that under the Polish Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, a class action with file ref. no. III C 491/12 was initiated to the statement of claims filed by S.P. against (…) joint-stock company for payment of undue performance paid to the defendant on the grounds of “preliminary sales contracts”‘ for residential premises which included valorization clauses providing for the defendant’s right to independently and unilaterally raise the price of the residential premises after the conclusion of the preliminary contract without granting the consumer the right to withdraw from the contract in connection with the increase in the price.

The Regional Court for Warsaw-Praga in Warsaw informs about the possibility of joining the proceedings available to parties whose claims might be included in the class action – by way of submitting a written declaration on joining the group to the representative of the group: S.P., ul. (…), in W. (…), (…)-(…) W., represented by R.P., attorney-at-law, within the time period of 3 months as of the day of the publication of the announcement.

Individual subgroups were created on the understanding that the value of the pursued claims is equal in each group. The value of the claims was standardised – to the lowest value appertaining to a subgroup member, each of the subgroups having at least 2 members. Furthermore, the claim in the scope of the interest was standardised by way of counting them as of the day of the service of the statement of claims until the day of payment. Each subgroup is thus entitled to a claim as follows: PLN 25,606.30 (subgroup 1), PLN 10,000.00 (subgroup 2), PLN 5,901.29 (subgroup 3), PLN 7,502.87 (subgroup 4), PLN 13,550.00 (subgroup 5), PLN 19,923.27 (subgroup 6), PLN 30,000.00 (subgroup 7), PLN 17,234.36 (subgroup 8).

The rules of remuneration for the representative’s ’attorney’s remuneration were provided for in the agreement of 15th February 2012 concluded by and between R.P., attorney-at-law, and the representative of the group, S.P., according to which:

a) The attorney is to obtain remuneration for prosecuting the case in the amount of 15% of the gross amount executed from the defendant, payable after the defendant pays, according to the rules provided for in the contract between a group member and the attorney, without prejudice to the point below.

b) In order to join the group a member is obligated to pay a gross lump sum of PLN 1,000.00 for attorney’s costs and expenses incurred in connection with the action, in case of joining the group after the statement of claims was filed, but not more than 15% of the gross pursued claim– the fee is to be paid on the day of joining the group or on the day indicated by the attorney and is not reimbursable. The remuneration of the attorney indicated in pt. 1 is to be decreased by the paid fee.

The Regional Court for Warsaw-Praga in Warsaw informs that the judgment rendered in the case will be binding on all the persons who have joined the proceedings.’

  1. to call the representative of the group, S.P., to pay an advance in the amount of PLN 3.000,00 for the costs connected with the publishing of this announcement in the press – within a period of 2 weeks– under pain of abstaining from the publishing of the announcement until that moment.