Case law > Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 26th June 2017

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 26th June 2017
I C 599/14

  1. A declaration on joining the group may be submitted before the announcement on the opening of group proceedings is published, nevertheless in order to be legally valid it needs to be served on the representative of the group only. Serving such a declaration to the court is legally invalid.
  2. The Polish Act on Pursing Claims in Group Proceedings of 17th December 2009 does not determine who a declaration on leaving the group is to be served to. Taking into account the per analogiam reasoning and the fact that a group member is not a subject in group proceedings, it can be concluded that such a declaration should be served onto the representative of the group. Such a conclusion, nevertheless, seems to restrict the liberty of deciding on being a member of the group. The Act does not impose any duties on the representative of the group in respect of leaving the group by an individual member, in particular it does not obligate him to accept or control, or transfer such declarations to court. Conditioning the legal validity of such a declaration on whether the representative transfers the declaration to the court would be absolutely pointless and artificial. Thus a declaration on leaving the group shall be served upon court so that the court takes it into account when rendering the decision on the group membership.
  3. A declaration on joining the group, next to the elements listed in Article 12 of the Polish Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, should include an indication of the person and their signature.

 The Regional Court in Warsaw, 1st Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Presiding Judge:    Rafał Wagner, Regional Court Judge

Judges:                    Bożena Chłopecka, Regional Court Judge, Ewa Ligoń-Krawczyk, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 26th June 2017 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case filed by P.K. against the State Treasury – Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy and Social Security in W., (…) joint-stock company in W.  (…) joint-stock company in W. , (…) joint-stock company in W., (…) joint-stock company in W., (…) joint-stock company in W.  for establishment

hereby decides to:

  1. establish that the group includes: [54 persons];
  2. establish that the group does not include: [11 persons].