Verdict of the Court of Appeals in Białystok 1st Civil Division of 2nd October 2013
I ACa 386/13

1. Under Article 4 section 1 of the Act of 17 December 2009 on pursuing claims in group proceedings, the statement of claims in a group proceedings is filed by the group’s representative. Thus, a group representative who have brought a group action on behalf of the group’s members is a claimant (a party) in the procedural sense. In turn, the group’s members on whose behalf the representative has filed a statement of claims are a party in the material sense.
2. The court’s decision on the composition of the group is of a constitutive nature. It is not a statement of a specific person on joining the group, but only the court’s decision on the group’s composition finally shapes the group’s composition in a group proceedings. Bearing in mind this constitutive nature of the decision on the composition of the group, it is possible to find that after the decision on the group’s composition becomes final, the court does not examine whether the group’s member, in terms of principle, is entitled to the status of a party in the material sense. However, it is necessary to indicate that no regulation of the Act on pursing claims in group proceedings provides that after the decision on group’s composition becomes final, the court may not examine the material locus standi of the groups’ member.