Decision of the Regional Court in Koszalin, 1st Civil Division, dated 16th January 2020
I C 619/18

1. Article 10 Section 1 of the Act of 17^th December 2009 on the Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings stipulates that after hearing the parties, the court shall decide on the admissibility of group proceedings. The presentation of arguments by the parties in their legal briefs meets the requirement of hearing the parties within the meaning of the cited provision.
2. The claim in group proceedings should be considered a procedural demand, which is an element of the action, and its specification is related to the issue of the division of actions into: actions for benefits, for determining the existence or non-existence of a right or legal relationship, and for the shaping of a right or legal relationship. Thus, the prerequisite for the admissibility of a group proceedings is that all persons covered by the statement of claim request legal protection in the same form. It is important that the condition for pursuing claims in group proceedings is that they are of one type. Monetary claims can undoubtedly be considered to be of one type. Non-monetary claims, on the other hand, will be of one type only if they relate to the requested course of action (behavior) of the defendant, i.e. if all members of the group demand a certain action or omission (of the same type) on the part of the defendant. Undoubtedly, therefore, claims of one type would not be monetary and non-monetary claims pursued simultaneously (in a single group proceeding), or different non-monetary claims pursued simultaneously.
3. An action to establish the defendant’s liability is brought when monetary claims are not suitable for unification in amount, or when the determination of the amount of monetary benefits could be associated with undue hardship.
4. In group proceedings for the establishment of the defendant’s liability, the plaintiff does not have to prove the occurrence of damage or the amount of damage of individual members of the group, if these are individual and not common circumstances, but must determine what is the damage resulting from the tort constituting the basis of the claim. In turn, it is the court’s duty to determine and assess whether the property damage so identified can be considered damage caused by the tort identified in the group statement of claim, and whether it is common to all group members.

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

Presiding Judge:           Jacek Grześkowiak, Regional Court Judge

Judges:                           Barbara Krzemianowska, Regional Court Judge;

Iwona Szkudłapska-Ćwik, Regional Court Judge

having recognized on 16^th January 2020 in Koszalin at a session in camera the case brought by E. M. against S. W. in M. for determination hereby decides to

recognize the case in group proceedings.