Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 28th February 2013
I C 984/12

  1. A claim for consumer protection is every claim that a consumer is entitled to against an entrepreneur, resulting from the legal transaction made between the consumer and the entrepreneur and is not limited only to claims based on specific acts within the scope of consumer law. There is no basis to accept that the aim of the legislator was to differentiate the status of consumers into those who can seek the protection of their claims in group proceedings and those persons who, despite the status of consumer, have to pursue their claims within the regular (ordinary) proceedings.
  2. It is commonly accepted, both in the case law as well as in the doctrine, that the status of the given person as a consumer should be assessed at the moment of performance of the legal action. The later changes on the allocation of the purchased good or service should not lead to changes of the once accepted assessment.
  3. Even in assuming the allegation of the defendant that Article 5 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings) regards to the whole of the remuneration, and not only to the part connected with the result of the proceedings, then there is still no basis to state that the violation of this provision results in the invalidity of the entire agreement with the attorney. The legislator did not reserve such a sanction.
  4. As opposed to Article 1119 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in Article 8 of the Act, the legislator indicated that the court may obligate the claimant to submit a deposit. Hence not in every case of filing a motion by the defendant a deposit should be submitted. Therefore, it was necessary to consider whether in the present case exists the risk that in the event of the defendant winning the case, he could have problems with enforcing the awarded costs of the proceedings.