Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 2nd August 2016

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The Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Rafał Wagner, Regional Court Judge

Andrzej Kuryłek, Regional Court Judge

Jacek Bajak, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 2nd August 2016 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case filed by the Municipal  Consumer Ombudsman in O. against Bank (…) S.A. with its registered office in W. for the establishment of the defendant’s liability

decides to:

  1. publish an announcement in the ‘(…)’ daily newspaper on commencement of the group proceedings with the following content:

’A class action filed by the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in O. against Bank (…) S.A. with its registered office in W. for the establishment [of the defendant’s liability] is pending before the Regional Court in Warsaw, 1st Civil Division, file ref. no. I C 1281/15.

In the course of the proceedings, acting as a group representative, on the grounds of Article 3851 (1) CC, Article 405 CC and Article 410 (1) and (2) CC, the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in O. demands the establishment that the Bank (…) S.A. is liable towards the Group Members on the grounds of unjust enrichment arising out of the mortgage contracts concluded with the Group Members. containing, directly or indirectly, unlawful contractual provisions. (…)

Any party whose claim may be the subject of the class action (the claim of the same type as the abovementioned claims, based on the same or equal factual basis) may join the proceedings by filing the declaration on joining the group within the term of 3 months, which cannot be exceeded, as of the date of notification of that announcement. The declaration shall be submitted to the group representative – the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in O., through the one of the following counsels who represent him: Z.D., attorney at law,. M. S., attorney at law, K. W., attorney at law (address for service: Kancelaria “(…), T. i Wspólnicy” Sp. k., ul. (…), (…)-(…) W., e-mail: (…).pl).

(…)”

  1. order the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman’s counsel to pay, in favor of the State Treasury, the Regional Court in Warsaw, within 2 weeks, the amount of PLN 1,500.00 (one thousand five hundred PLN) as advance payment on the costs of the announcement on commencement of group proceedings.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 3rd Civil Division of 15th July 2016

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The Regional Court in Warsaw having examined the case of A.R against Związek (…) in W. for payment,

hereby decides:

  1. to publish the following announcement in (…) and in (…):

 

 “Announcement – start of the class action proceedings

The class action started by A.R. as the group representative against (…) Związek (…) z/s in W. for payment for purchase of the tickets to the mass event named (…) W.(…) S. (…) (….) (…), which took place on 18th April 2015 at the National S. in W. is currently pending before the Regional Court in Warsaw.

The Court informs about the possibility of declaring to join the group by people whose claims can be examined in this case. The declaration should be submitted in writing to the group representative A.R. (address for delivery: Law firm of legal counsel T.D., street (…). S.G. – R. (…) (…) – (…) W.) within 3 months from the issuance of this announcement.

The basic costs of the Claimant’s legal representation have been set in the amount of 20% (twenty percent) of the awarded amount of payment. The final judgment in the case binds also the members of the group.”

Judgement of the Regional Court in Warsaw – the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection of 21st June 2016

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The Regional Court in Warsaw – the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection with the following ruling bench:

Presiding Judge:            Jolanta de Heij-Kaplińska, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 24th May 2016 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case to the appeal of (…) Bank S.A. with its registered office in W. against the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection for the ascertainment of acts violating collective consumer interests,

following the appeal of the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection of 31st December 2013, no. (…),

hereby decides to:

  1. amend the contested decision in point III (three) by lowering the imposed penalty to the amount of PLN 5,000,000.00 (five million PLN);
  2. dismiss the appeal in the remaining part;
  3. award the amount of PLN 360.00 (three hundreds sixty PLN) from (…) Bank S.A. with its registered office in W. to the benefit of the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection as the costs of professional legal representation.

Decision of the Regional Court in Piotrków Trybunalski 1st Civil Division of 14th June 2016

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  1. Evidence from testimony of the parties, provided for in Article 20 of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings applies only to group members, for they are the people, who are have the right of action arising from substantive law. A group representative is not questioned on the grounds that s/he has passive right of action.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 24th Civil Division of 9th June 2016

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The decision was reversed by the decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw of 15th September 2016, file ref. no. XXIV C 500/14.

The Regional Court in Warsaw 24th Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Monika Dominiak, Regional Court Judge

Barbara Budzianowska, Regional Court Judge

Urszula Idzikowska, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 9th June 2016 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera in the case filed by the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in S. – the group representative against (…) S.A. with its registered office in W. for the establishment of the defendant’s liability,

hereby decides to

  1. make the announcement on the commencement of group proceedings at the cost of the State Treasury with the following content:

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE COMMENCEMENT OF GROUP PROCEEDINGS

‘Under the Act of 17 December 2009 on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings (Journal of Laws from 2010, No 7, item 44), group proceedings initiated by the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in S. acting as a group representative against (…) S.A. with its registered office in W., file ref. no. XXIV C 500/14 commenced before the Regional Court in Warsaw, 24th Civil Division. The group currently consists of 71 members. The value of the object of the dispute is PLN 3,197,972.38.

The Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in S. as a group representative, motioned for:

1) establishment by the Court, that the following general terms of life insurance contracts concluded with the insurance capital fund are unfair contractual terms (…),

2) establishment that if life insurance contracts concluded by (…) S.A. with group members are terminated before the end of the period of insurance for any reason other than death, the (…) S.A. is obligated to pay the group members the amount of (…).

Each person who:

(…)

is entitled to join the group by filing a written declaration on joining the group within the non-extendable period of two months as of the date of notification of that announcement and by submitting the declaration to the group representative – the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in S., to the address of his attorneys –A. L., legal counsel, or D. K., legal counsel (…) s.c., ul. (…), (…)-(…) W.

After the lapse of the abovementioned deadline, joining the group will be inadmissible.

(…)’.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 25th Civil Division of 6th June 2016

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The Regional Court in Warsaw 25th Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Krystyna Stawecka, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 6th August 2016 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera in the group action filed by J. K. – the group representative against Bank (…) S.A. in W. for payment,

decides to:

award the amount of PLN 5,904.00 (five thousand nine hundred and four złoty) to P. Ł. with its registered office in W. as reimbursement of the costs of the announcement in “Rzeczpospolita”, , which shall be paid by the Financial Office of the Regional Court in Warsaw, in the manner which follows:

  • the amount of PLN 3,690.00 (three thousand six hundred and ninety PLN) shall be paid from the advance paid by the claimant on 24th February 2016, booked under item 500003934529 (card no. 895);
  • the amount of PLN 2,214.00 (two thousand two hundred and fourteen PLN) shall be paid from the advance paid by the claimant on 15th April 2016, booked under position 500005190881 (card no. 908).

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 16th Commercial Division of 6th June 2016

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  1. Group members must be bound by a specific subjective and objective bond. The subjective bond pertains to individuals in the group who have suffered as a result of the perpetrator’s single act. In a class action, such individuals pursue claims from one entity (the violator). In turn, the objective commonality is related to the type of violation which has this effect that a joint pursuit of claims by the group is substantiated and possible. The bond existing between members of the group must be based on the same or similar factual basis.
  2. In the situation in which the factual and legal basis of the pursued claims and their homogeneous nature are the same for all claimants, standardisation of claims, where claimants decide to litigate in a class action, must be performed in relation to all of them, without a possibility of division into smaller subgroups.
  3. This is because it is assumed that individuals within a subgroup are individuals whose claims have been standardised in connection with occurring differences, e.g. the nature of damages sustained thereby in the same event is different (…). The requirement for standardisation of cash claims is dictated by a drive at streamlining group proceedings. Hence, the claim standardisation procedure may not be performed in a random manner, it must take the shared circumstances of the case into consideration.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 5th June 2016

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  1. Filing a motion for the deposit to secure the costs of the proceedings, the Defendant should make plausible, firstly, that the action against him is obviously unfounded or that the statement of claims is unlikely to be allowed, therefore it has characteristics of litigiousness and, secondly, that the lack of the deposit to secure the future claim for reimbursement of costs of the proceedings will make an execution of the cost from the Claimant impossible or significantly more difficult.

The Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Ewa Ligoń-Krawczyk, Regional Court Judge (Rapporteur)

Rafał Wagner, Regional Court Judge

Jacek Bajak, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 5th June 2016 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case filed by the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in S. W. against Towarzystwo (…) S.A. with its registered office in W. for payment,

decides to:

dismiss the motion of the Defendant – Towarzystwo (…) S.A. with its registered office in W. to obligate the Claimant – Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in S. W. to pay a deposit to secure the costs of the proceedings.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw, 3rd Civil Division of 25th May 2016

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The Regional Court in Warsaw 3rd Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

Presiding Judge:           Joanna Korzeń, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 25th May at the hearing in camera the case filed by the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman (…) – the representative of the group and of the members of the group:

subgroup no. I: [2 members];

subgroup no. 2: [6 members];

subgroup no. 3: [3 members];

subgroup no. 4: [6 members];

subgroup no. 5: [6 members];

subgroup no. 6: [2 members];

subgroup no. 7: [4 members];

subgroup no. 8: [3 members];

subgroup no. 9: [2 members];

subgroup no. 10: [4 members];

against the Housing Association (…) in W. for payment

decides to:

  1. discontinue the appeal proceedings brought by the respondent against the judgment of the Regional Court in Warsaw 3rd Civil Division of 2 March 2016;
  2. return to the defendant the fee for the appeal in the amount of PLN 819.00.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 2nd Civil Division of 18th May 2016

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  1. The mandatory representation by a professional counsel set out in Article 4 (4) of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings means that the solely the group representative’s legal counsel who is an attorney-at-law or a legal counsel has the capacity to engage in acts in law in the action. The requirement of mandatory representation by a professional counsel in such a situation is of an absolute nature which means that the group representative may not act in the case personally, but only through a professional counsel. Actions performed by the party will be ineffective.

The Regional Court in Warsaw 2nd Civil Division in the following ruling bench:

The Chairman:  Sylwia Urbańska, The Regional Court Judge

The Judges:       Katarzyna Waseńczuk, The Regional Court Judge; Tomasz Wojciechowski, The Regional Court Judge

having examined on 18th May 2016 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera in the case filed by K .S. acting as a group representative in favor of [personal data of the group members] against (…) Zakład (…) S.A. in W. for payment, concerning the suspension of the proceedings,

hereby decides to:

suspend the proceedings on the grounds of the Article 177 para 1 point 6 of the CCP.