Judgment of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, 6th Civil Division, dated 26th November 2020
VI ACa 192/20

1. The term “exploratory proceedings” has a different meaning under the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings than in typical civil cases. For in this case it also refers to the adjudication of the plaintiff’s request for the admission of group proceedings and the inclusion of certain persons in such proceedings. Thus, in this case, the adjudicatory proceeding is to decide whether group proceedings are permissible within the limits specified in the lawsuit, as well as whether the persons included in the list filed by the group representative are entitled to the status of a group member (Article 13 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings).
2. The court shall make this assessment by virtue of the indications contained in the Act, but if the court allows group proceedings, the relevant exploratory (substantive) proceedings shall already be conducted on the basis of the Code of Civil Procedure, excluding only those provisions referred to in Article 24 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings. This is because the Act does not introduce any special solutions when it comes to the phase of substantive examination of a group case, which takes place after the decision on determining the composition of the group becomes final (Article 17 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings). The only provision that relates to the substantive phase of group proceedings is Article 21 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, which regulates the content of the judgment rendered in group proceedings.
3. Article 2 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings is procedural in nature. In no way can this provision be considered substantive in nature. It cannot be considered that the mere requirement to standardize the amount of monetary claims asserted facilitates the conduct of group proceedings at their substantive stage. For it is still the case that in these proceedings the plaintiff must prove the amount of the monetary claims asserted for the benefit of each group member individually.

The Court of Appeal in Warsaw, 6^th Civil Division, composed of:

Presiding Judge:           Ryszard Sarnowicz

Judges:                            Marzena Miąskiewicz (Judge – Rapporteur),

Grażyna Kramarska

having recognized on 28^th October 2020 in Warsaw at a hearing in group proceedings the case brought by K. K. – representative of the group and group participants:

(…)

against the Housing Cooperative “(…)” with its registered office in W. for payment

as a result of the plaintiffs’ appeal against the judgment of the Regional Court in Warsaw dated 26^th April 2019, file III C 798/15

1. dismisses the appeal;
2. awards from K. K. in favor of the Housing Cooperative “(…)” the amount of PLN 8,100 (eight thousand one hundred) as reimbursement of the costs of the appeal proceedings.