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

1. The term “exploratory proceedings” has a different meaning under the Group Proceedings Law than in typical civil cases. For in this case it also refers to the adjudication of the plaintiff’s request for the admission of class 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 Law 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 class 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 Law on Pursuit of Claims in Class Proceedings. This is because the law 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 Law on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings). The only provision that relates to the substantive phase of group proceedings is Article 21 of the Law on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, which regulates the content of the judgment rendered in group proceedings
3. 2 of the Class Action Law 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 class member individually.

Court of Appeals in Warsaw VI Civil Division, composed of:

Presiding Judge:           Ryszard Sarnowicz

Judges:                        Marzena Miąskiewicz (spr.), Grażyna Kramarska

having recognized on October 28, 2020 in Warsaw at a hearing in group proceedings the case from the claim of 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 District Court in Warsaw dated April 26, 2019, file III C 798/15

1. dismisses the appeal;
2. awards 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.