Decision of the Regional Court in Wrocław 1st Civil Division of 5th October 2017

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  1. The standardization of the claims shall be assessed with respect to pursuing homogenous claims in this sense that the Act sets out the requirement to pursue by all claimant members an action for adjudication, action for declaration or shaping of a legal relation or right.
  2. During the process of interpretation of the term ’homogeneity of claims‘ on the grounds of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, as well as the terms ’factual basis‘ and ’standardization of claims’, which are not legally defined the main goals of group proceedings shall be taken into consideration.
  3. The premise of homogeneity of claims relates to claims which arise from one type of legal relations. The abovementioned meaning of homogeneity of the claims is not associated with the same legal basis. That is because, pursuant to the Article 1 (1) of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, the commonality of legal norms which are the basis of the claims is not the premise of admissibility of group proceedings.
  4. The requirement of the same or similar factual basis of the statement of claims means that the factual basis of the claims does not have to consist in the same circumstances but the significant similarity of them is sufficient.
  5. In case of declarations on joining the group, the date of submitting them to the group representative is important, not the date their being signed by the entity who declares the intent to pursue their claim in group proceedings.

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

Radosław Nawrocki, Regional Court Judge

Marcin Śmigiel, Regional Court Judge

Iwona Wysocka, District Court Judge

having examined on 5th October 2017 in Wrocław at the hearing in camera the case filed by E. S. acting as a group representative against (…) Bank (…) S.A. in W. for payment, hereby decides to:

establish, on the grounds of the Article 17.1 of the Act of 17 December 2009 on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, that the group consists of the following persons:

1) within the subgroup A: [6 members];

2) within the subgroup B: [4 members];

3) within the subgroup C: [4 members];

4) within the subgroup D: [8 members];

5) within the subgroup E: [2 members];

6) within the subgroup F: [4 members];

7) within the subgroup G: [3 members];

8) within the subgroup H: [2 members];

9) within the subgroup I: [3 members];

10) within the subgroup J: [3 members];

11) within the subgroup K: [2 members];

12) within the subgroup L: [3 members];

13) within the subgroup M: [5 members];

14) within the subgroup N: [3 members];

15) within the subgroup O: [2 members].

The judgements of the Regional Court in Wroclaw published on the website were facilitated by the President of the District Court in Wroclaw in the letter of 27th August 2019. The texts of the judgements were processed by the entity operating this website by adding theses, visual compilation and removing punctuation and literal errors. The judgements have been translated by the entity operating this website.

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Decision of the Regional Court in Gdańsk 25th Civil Division of 4th October 2017

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

Presiding Judge:            Urszula Malak, Regional Court Judge,

Judges:                            Dorota Kołodziej, Regional Court Judge

Krzysztof Solecki, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 4th October 2017 in Gdańsk at the hearing in camera in group proceedings the case filed by group representative (…) against (…) and (…)

decides to:

  1. establish that subgroup I i.e. the subgroup demanding the ascertainment of the invalidity of the Usenet service provision agreements concluded by the group members with the defendant and the award of a payment of PLN 94.80 to each group member by defendants jointly and severally as the return of undue performance, alternatively – in the event the statement of claims is dismissed in that scope – the ascertainment that the group members are not obligated to pay PLN 94.80 to the defendants as the subscription fee for using the services offered by the website www.pobieraczek.pl, consists of: [data of 48 group members];
  2. establish that subgroup III i.e. the subgroup demanding the ascertainment of the invalidity of the Usenet service provision agreements concluded by the group members with the defendants, alternatively – in the event the statement of claims is dismissed in that scope – the ascertainment that the group members are not obligated to pay PLN 94.80 to the defendants as the subscription fee for using the services offered by the website www.pobieraczek.pl, consists of: [data of 59 group members];
  3. establish that subgroup V i.e. the subgroup demanding the ascertainment that the Usenet service provision agreement concluded by the group members with defendants are invalid, alternatively – in the event of dismissing the statement of claims in that scope – ascertainment that the group members are not obligated to pay PLN 94.80 as the subscription fee to the defendants for using the services offered by the website www.pobieraczek.pl and that they are not obligated to pay the contractual penalty of USD 100 to the defendants for breaching § 6 point 3 of the Usenet Service Provision Terms and Conditions of 16th April 2010, consists of: [data of 482 group members];
  4. dismiss the motion for decision on establishing the composition of the group in the remaining scope.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 3rd Civil Division of 2nd October 2017

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  1. A sole entrepreneur or a partner in a civil law partnership (therefore as a natural person) can purchase an object either as an entrepreneur or as a consumer. In such a case the purpose for which the agreement is concluded is the decisive factor.
  2. The potential disposal of the tickets bought by consumers to other people has no influence on the decision whether the claims are based on an equal legal basis.
  3. It is therefore difficult to recognize that the claims of the consumers, who purchased the tickets (admittedly in a special offer including gratuitous services, which are not the object of their claims)cannot be deemed as the claims based on the equal or the same factual basis.

 

The Regional Court in Warsaw having examined the case of A.R. – as a group representative against (…) Związek (…) in W. for payment, during an in camera hearing on 2nd October 2017,

hereby decides:

  1. to proceed the case in the group proceedings and that the group represented by A.R. consists of: [114 group members]

Judgment of the Regional Court in Szczecin, 1st Civil Division of 22nd September 2017

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

Presiding Judge:       Wojciech Machnicki (rapporteur), Regional Court Judge

Judges:                        Katarzyna Krasny, Regional Court Judge; Renata Tarnowska, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 8th September 2017 in Szczecin at a hearing of the case filed by K. P. – the representative of the group composed of the following participants: (…) against the State Treasury – (…) and (…) for payment:

  1. dismisses the action,
  2. awards from the group representative (…) to the State Treasury – (…) the amount of 14 400,00 zł (fourteen thousand four hundred) złotys as a return of the legal representation costs,
  3. awards – (…) the amount of PLN 257,28 (two hundred fifty seven zlotys twenty eight groszy) from the representative of the group K. P. for the State Treasury for expenditures.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 16th Commercial Division of 3rd July 2017

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The Regional Court in Warsaw 16th Commercial Division in the following ruling bench:

Presiding Judge:     Maria Zgiet–Zawadzka, Regional Court Judge

Judges:                     Jan Wawrowski, Regional Court Judge, Katarzyna Bartosiewicz, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 3rd July 2017 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case filed by (…) and (…) C.A. Ltd in W. against (…) Society (…) joint stock company in W. for compensation

hereby decides to:

discontinue the proceedings.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 1st Civil Division of 26th June 2017

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  1. A declaration on joining the group may be submitted before the announcement on the opening of group proceedings is published, nevertheless in order to be legally valid it needs to be served on the representative of the group only. Serving such a declaration to the court is legally invalid.
  2. The Polish Act on Pursing Claims in Group Proceedings of 17th December 2009 does not determine who a declaration on leaving the group is to be served to. Taking into account the per analogiam reasoning and the fact that a group member is not a subject in group proceedings, it can be concluded that such a declaration should be served onto the representative of the group. Such a conclusion, nevertheless, seems to restrict the liberty of deciding on being a member of the group. The Act does not impose any duties on the representative of the group in respect of leaving the group by an individual member, in particular it does not obligate him to accept or control, or transfer such declarations to court. Conditioning the legal validity of such a declaration on whether the representative transfers the declaration to the court would be absolutely pointless and artificial. Thus a declaration on leaving the group shall be served upon court so that the court takes it into account when rendering the decision on the group membership.
  3. A declaration on joining the group, next to the elements listed in Article 12 of the Polish Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings, should include an indication of the person and their signature.

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

Presiding Judge:    Rafał Wagner, Regional Court Judge

Judges:                    Bożena Chłopecka, Regional Court Judge, Ewa Ligoń-Krawczyk, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 26th June 2017 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case filed by P.K. against the State Treasury – Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy and Social Security in W., (…) joint-stock company in W.  (…) joint-stock company in W. , (…) joint-stock company in W., (…) joint-stock company in W., (…) joint-stock company in W.  for establishment

hereby decides to:

  1. establish that the group includes: [54 persons];
  2. establish that the group does not include: [11 persons].

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 2nd Civil Division of 19th June 2017

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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
  2. 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:

Presiding Judge: Sylwia Urbańska, Regional Court Judge

Judges: Magdalena Antosiewicz, Regional Court Judge; Michał Chojnacki, District Court Judge (delegated)

having examined on 19th June 2016 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case filed by K .S. acting as a group representative on behalf of [15 people] against (…) Zakład (…) S.A. in W. for payment,

hereby decides to:

discontinue the proceedings on the grounds of Article 182 (1) CCP.

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 25th Civil Division of 6th June 2017

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  1. The examination of group membership consists in comparing group members’ individual claims against the standard claim determined in the decision on examining the case in group proceedings.
  2. At the first and second stage of the group proceedings, the defendant should not raise objections aimed at demonstrating illegitimacy of the claims pursued on behalf of the group members. This is because these issues are not the subject of the court’s attention at the first and second stage of a class action. The legitimacy of claims pursued on behalf of particular group members is examined at the third – substantive stage of group proceedings.
  3. The division of group members into subgroups based only on the parameter of the amount of pursued claims is admissible.

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

Presiding Judge: Tomasz Gal, Regional Court Judge

Judges: Anna Błażejczyk, Regional Court Judge; Monika Włodarczyk, Regional Court Judge

having examined on 6th June 2017 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera the case in a class action filed by R.D. – the group representative against the State Treasury – General Prosecutor, Regional Public Prosecutor in Gdańsk and District Public Prosecutor G.-W. in G. for payment,

hereby decides to:

establish the composition of subgroups consisting of the following members [43 subgroups].

Decision of the Regional Court in Warsaw 25th Civil Division of 31st May 2017

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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 31st May 2017 in Warsaw at the hearing in camera in the group action filed by J. K. – group representative against Bank (…) S.A. in W. for payment,

decides to:

suspend the proceedings under Article 174 (1) (1) CCP in conjunction with Article 24 (1) of the Act on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings.

Judgment of the Regional Court in Warsaw 24th Civil Division of 10th May 2017

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Non-final judgment.

  1. The provisions concerning the redemption fee/fees for the total redemption of the value of the policy may not be qualified as the main performance of the parties, as they do not affect the essence of the legal transaction. They are therefore subject to assessment as to their abusive nature.
  2. Where the clause relating to the redemption fee/fees for the total redemption of the policy value is found to be abusive and it is impossible to apply the general terms and conditions of the agreement or the general provisions on obligations in that place, the fee should be returned pursuant to the provisions on undue performance – Article 410 of the Polish Civil Code.
  3. There is no doubt that the payment of commissions to agents cooperating with the defendant constitutes a kind of obligation (…) which results from the business activity conducted. Therefore, under the quoted provision the use of funds from the fees collected for this purpose does not constitute consumption or loss of enrichment. By paying commissions from the fees, the defendant released itself from the obligation to pay, which was incumbent thereon as an entrepreneur. It cannot, therefore, be considered that it is no longer enriched in that regard.