Abstract

The Supreme Court resolution discussed in this paper refers to the right of action in class action lawsuits. In view of the fact that class suits require professional representation for the interests of the group, in everyday practice problems arise in connection with appointing an adequate representative of the plaintiff. The legislator has imposed a requirement of compulsory representation of the plaintiff in group proceedings by a professional lawyer (in Poland it is either an advocate or a legal counselor), regardless of who actually represents the group. This resolution of the Supreme Court therefore explicitly reaffirms the position commonly presented in the doctrine, according to which compulsory representation of the plaintiff by an advocate or a legal counselor, as provided by Art. 4.4 of the Act on asserting claims by class action, also applies to the consumer ombudsman. Any violation of the aforementioned provisions results in class action being dismissed without a call to remove the deficiencies.