Decision of the Regional Court in Poznań, 1st Civil Division, dated 17th February 2023
I C 1987/19

1. The issuance of a decision regarding the composition of the group concludes the second phase of group proceedings, which is the formation of the group. As soon as the decision 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 about res judicata, especially in the scope challenged by the defendant and the arguments used for this purpose.
4. The authorization to act on behalf of a group does not require written form for its validity, the act on group proceedings 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, one should refer to the Code of Civil Procedure, which provisions do not provide for the written form of a power of attorney under pain of invalidity.
5. The homogeneity of the claims pursued 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 decision issued under Article 10 of the Act 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 decision issued under Article 10 in conjunction with Article 1 of the aforementioned Act.

The Regional Court in Poznań, 1^st Civil Division, composed of:

Presiding judge:                    Katarzyna Jelewska – Sterczała, Regional Courte Judge

having recognized on 17^th February 2023 in Poznań in group proceedings at a session in camera the case brought by J. P. – representative of the Group against (…) Investment Fund Society Joint-Stock Company with its registered office in P. for determination of the issue concerning the composition of the Group decides to:

determine the composition of the Group, which includes 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..