- Supplementing the lacks and discrepancies in the scope of joining to the group could have been completed successfully upon the lapse of the period for just joining the group. The acceptance of a different opinion would harm the purposefulness of conducting the group proceedings, which may cover a larger group of persons (group members) and it is difficult to avoid certain oversights or lacks, especially in the scope of notification on joining to the group as well as the need to collect and the meticulously verify the necessary documentation.
- The act on pursuing claims in group proceedings alone includes an autonomous regulation of the institution of a deposit to secure the costs of the proceedings (being a modification of the so-called plaintiff’s deposit provided in Article 1119 of the Code of Civil Procedure) and does not in any way connect the obligation to pay the deposit with the issue of exemption from the payment of court fees.
- The estimation of the potential defendant’s costs of the group proceedings must be based on the value of the subject of the proceedings, calculated uniformly for all of the group members, not the value that is calculated separately for each of them. Only the costs of legal representation may be included in the defendant’s proceedings costs, in the event of the full winning of the case.
- The payment of the deposit in the amount of PLN 43,200, which should once again be specified: solely in cash, will undoubtedly be an impediment for the claimant and will harm the speed and efficiency of the proceedings in the case. Whereas ensuring the efficient and effective court protection in cases examined as group actions is one of the aims of implementing these types of proceedings into the Polish law.
The judgements of the Regional Court in Lodz published on the website were downloaded from the Portal of Judgements of Common Courts (https://orzeczenia.ms.gov.pl/), and then processed by the entity operating this website by adding theses, deleting data of the group members, visual compilation and removing punctuation and literal errors. The judgements have been translated by the entity operating this website.
- Assessing the premises of examination of the case in the group proceedings, the Court examines the statement of claims with regard to the fulfillment of the premises included in Article 6. Article 12 applies in a situation where new participants join to the pending proceedings, who were not covered by the statement of claims, as a result of the issuance of a decision on the announcement on the commencement of group proceedings.
- The factual basis therefore is the same, as each of the members cites being misled and unaware of the conclusion of the agreement despite its factual conclusion, while it is of no importance on what date the agreement was concluded, as that circumstance does not have an impact on the admissibility of the examination of the case in group proceedings. The claim of each of the members should be qualified as based on equal grounds as it is based on identical agreement.
- At the present stage there is a lack of the generation of costs on the side of the defendant, which would create a premise obligating the claimant to secure the costs of the proceedings. The declaration of the defendants alone that they are at the stage of searching for a proxy, does not constitute a sufficient assumption to state that securing the costs of the proceedings is necessary.
The stance included in the thesis no. 1 was questioned by the Court of Appeals in Gdańsk in the decision of 14th May 2013, I ACz 464/13.
The Regional Court in Opole, 1st Civil Division, with the following ruling bench:
Presiding Judge: Magdalena Domińczyk-Trzciańska, Regional Court Judge
Judges: Ryszard Kądziela, Regional Court Judge; Beata Hetmańczyk, Regional Court Judge
having examined on 18th July 2012 in Opole the case filed by J. M. as the group representative [data of 4 group members] and the others against (…) Limited Liability Company in O. for payment,
decides to:
order to announce the commencement of group proceedings before the Regional Court in Opole 1st Civil Division (…) case no. I C 605/11:
’The J. M. representative of the group [data of 13 group members] represented by (…) attorney-at-law of the law office in W. filed a statement of claims against (…) Limited Liability Company in O.
The object of the dispute concerns the claims for payment of tourist trip to K. in July 2011, which was not performed in accordance with the provisions of the agreement (…)
The judgment shall be binding for all the group members.’
The Regional Court in Olsztyn 1st Civil Division in the following ruling bench:
Presiding Judge: Bożena Charukiewicz, Regional Court Judge
Judges: Juliusz Ciejek, Regional Court Judge; Przemysław Jagosz, Regional Court Judge
having examined on 5th July 2012 in O. the case filed by B.S. against (…) ltd in O. for payment
hereby decides to:
- order the announcement on initiation of group proceedings by publishing in the (…) daily the information that a class action to the statement of claims filed by B.S as the representative of the group consisting of: (…) against (…) Ltd. for payment of the amounts arising out of from the decrease in the value of the residential premises acquired from the defendant is pending before the Regional Court in Olsztyn to file ref. no. I C 99/2. The persons whose claims might be examined in these group proceedings may join the group by submitting a written declaration on joining the group to the group representative within 2 months as of the publication of the announcement. For the performed activities, the representative of the group shall receive a consideration in the amount of PLN 4,200, increased by the applicable VAT tax rate, including: in the case of subgroup no. 1 – PLN 300 per person who acquired a residential premises for their personal property, subgroup no. 2: – PLN 300 per each married couple who acquired the premises to the spouses joint property, subgroup no. 3 – PLN 300 jointly from all the group members who acquired a separate residential premises as joint property. In the case new persons join the group, the representative’s consideration shall be increased proportionally according to the rules stated above. The representative shall be entitled to an extra consideration in the form of the costs of legal representation adjudicated or awarded by way of settlement. A legally valid judgment is effective towards all the group members.
- publication of the hereinbefore mentioned announcement shall be contingent on the Claimant’s payment within 7 days of a deposit in the amount of PLN 500.00, under the pain of suspending the proceedings.
- Narrowing of the meaning of “the claim for the protection of consumers” to a very narrow scope does not find its substantiation in the literal wording of the Act (Polish Act on pursuing claims in group proceedings). The claimant derived his claims from the construction of the liability for the improper performance of the agreements, to which consumers were parties, which fulfilled the premise of Article 1 section 2 of the Act.
- The group proceedings must be admissible in relation to every group member, and in a situation in which the claims of certain persons do not bear the features characteristic for the group, the court issues a decision on the rejection of the statement of claims on the grounds of Article 10 of the Act.
The decision was set aside with the decision of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw of 19th October 2012, file ref. no. I ACz 1777/12. The thesis questioned by the Court of Appeals in Warsaw has been italicised.
The Regional Court in Olsztyn 1st Civil Division in the following ruling bench:
Presiding Judge: Bożena Charukiewicz, Regional Court Judge
Judges: Wojciech Wacław, Regional Court Judge; Przemysław Jagosz, Regional Court Judge
having examined on 21st June 2012 at the hearing in a court the case filed by B.S. against (…) for payment
hereby decides to:
examine the case of B.S., the representative of the group composed of: (…), against (…) for payment in group proceedings.
The written substantiation has not been drawn up.
- Group proceedings examine cases where homogenous claims based on the same or similar factual basis are pursued by at least 10 people. Group proceedings for pecuniary claims are admissible only if the amount of each member’s claim is standardized, taking into account the circumstances which are common for all members of the group. The standardization may be carried out in subgroups of at least 2 people.
The Regional Court in Bydgoszcz I Civil Division in the following ruling bench:
Ewa Grażyna Bednarek, Regional Court Judge
Joanna Sauter – Kunach, Regional Court Judge
Jarosław Zawadzki, Regional Court Judge
having examined on 23rd May 2012 in Bydgoszcz at the hearing the case filed by B.B. against G. N. B. S.A. with its registered office in W. for payment, following the motion for examination of the case in group proceedings,
decides to:
examine the case in group proceedings.
The judgements of the Regional Court in in Bydgoszcz published on the website were facilitated by the President of the District Court in Bydgoszcz in the letter of 27th August 2019, and then processed by the entity operating this website. The judgements have been translated by the entity operating this website.
The decision was reversed by the decision of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw of 22nd August 2012, file ref. no. I ACz 1298/12.
- The costs of the proceedings are the costs necessary for the purposeful assertion of rights and a purposeful defence. The amount that can be spent on the claimants’ statements, in the event of the dismissal of the claim as being manifestly unfounded, is not covered by the costs of the proceedings. In this respect, the defendant’s motion on obligating the claimant to submit a deposit to secure the costs of the proceedings is completely unsubstantiated.
- Modification of the statement of claims consisting in bringing forth a new claim in place of the primary one contains a tacit withdrawal of the primary claim. Lodging by the claimant a demand for establishment of liability does not constitute a limitation of the primary demand for payment, but its modification. Both demands are of a spontaneous nature, they are different in terms of content, and they intend to achieve different goals.
- In assumption, the demand for establishment of liability in cases where future group members will be pursuing payment from the defendant should be brought forth when the pecuniary claims of group members are unfit to be standardised in terms of value due to diversification of circumstances pertaining to individual members of the group. Difficulties with standardisation of pecuniary claims of individual group members in the frames of the original action for payment persuaded the claimant to modify the statement of claims for establishment. The best moment for the claimant to perform such a modification is the stage of assessing admissibility of examination of the case in group proceedings. There are no legal provisions limiting admissibility of performance of modification depending on the stage of the proceedings in the first instance, also in group proceedings.
- After modification of the statement of claims, group members pursue their claims in the same in generic terms form of legal protection – for establishment – therefore the claims are homogenous in the meaning of Article 1 section 1 of the Act (Polish Act on pursuing claims in group proceedings). It is only worth highlighting that in Article 1 section 1 the Act uses the claim in the procedural sense.
- The event being the source of the claim in the case of each member of the group is the same – it is the above-described tort [perpetrated by] the defendants, what is more – a complex tort. Yet, the requirement of the same or equal factual basis does not mean the requirement for all elements of the factual grounds in the case of each of the claims to be identical or equal. Existence of one element shared in the scope of factual circumstances constituting the basis of the group members’ claims, i.e. a damage-causing event, is sufficient.
The decision was partially reversed by decision of the Court of Appeals in Krakow of 17th September 2012, file ref. no. I ACz 1324/12. Thesis questioned by the Court was marked in italics.
Regional Court in Opole 1st Civil Division in the following ruling bench:
Presiding Judge: Katarzyna Sieheń, Regional Court Judge
Judges: Ryszard Kądziela, Regional Court Judge
Izabela Bogusz, Regional Court Judge
having examined on 4th April 2012 in O. at the hearing in camera the case filed by K. K. – group representative of group of residents domiciled at ul. (…) and ul. (…) in K. and the city of K. against the municipality of K. – the President of K. and the district of K. – the Poviat of K. – the Starost of K. on ascertainment,
decides:
under Article 17 of Act of 17 December 2009 on Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings to establish that the group includes the following group members: [data of 133 persons].
The above information was prepared based on public information provided by the President of the Regional Court in Opole.
The rulings of the District Court in Opole posted on the website were facilitated by the President of the District Court in Opole. The texts of the rulings were processed by the entity operating this website by adding theses, visual compilation and removing punctuation and literal errors. The rulings have been translated by the entity operating this website.
