Order of the District Court in Poznań, 1st Civil Division, dated February 17, 2023
I C 1987/19

1. The issuance of an order as to the composition of the group concludes the second phase of group proceedings, which is the formation of the group. As soon as the order on the composition of the group is issued, the composition of the group is petrified. From that moment on, it is no longer possible to join the group. Reduction in the size of the group may occur only in exceptional cases – as a result of the death of a group member, a change in the decision on the composition due to new circumstances.
2. The plaintiff (group representative) bears the burden of proving the fact that a certain person is a member of the group, which justifies the claim filed in the group proceeding (plausibility in cases involving a non-monetary claim). The defendant, on the other hand, bears the burden of proving the facts that dam and nullify the plaintiff’s claim, i.e. the facts that justify its objections to the claim.
3. The validity of the decision to hear the case in a group proceeding and the decision dismissing the complaint against this decision constitutes res judicata, especially in the scope challenged by the defendant and the arguments used for this purpose.
4. An authorization to act on behalf of a group does not require written form for its validity, the Group Proceedings Act does not provide for any special solutions in this regard, and by way of reference under Article 24 of the above-mentioned Act to the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, it is precisely to the Code of Civil Procedure, which provisions do not provide for the written form of a power of attorney on pain of invalidity.
5. The homogeneity of the claims asserted in group proceedings will ultimately be determined by the factual relationship between the claims made.
6. Group proceedings are also permissible when the premise of the occurrence of damage and its amount depends on individual factual circumstances concerning individual members of the group.
7. The court, when issuing a decision during the second phase of the group proceeding, i.e., granting a particular person the status of a group member, should compare the claim filed by that person with the characteristics of the model group specified in the order issued under Article 10 of the Law on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings. Thus, the claim of an individual person should fall within the subject matter limits of the group claim specified in the order issued under Article 10 in conjunction with Article 1 of the aforementioned Law.

District Court in Poznań, 1st Civil Division, in the following composition:

Presiding judge:      SSO Katarzyna Jelewska – Sterczała

Having recognized on February 17, 2023 in Poznań in group proceedings at a closed session the case of the claim of J. P. – representative of the Group against (…) Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Spółka Akcyjna with its registered office in P. for determination of the issue concerning the composition of the Group decides:

Determine the composition of the Group to include the following persons: B. K., G. P., M. W., A. W., J. Pł., A. C., E. N., D. O., B. D., S. M., S. B., S. M., P. C., E. C., B. B., S. B., P. M., J. K., M. K., A. W., A. S., J. G., R. D., J. S., D. M., D. K., J. M., M., J. M., A. S., D. B..