Wierzbowski Eversheds reported today that the Court of Appeal in Lodz has dismissed the appeal by mBank (formerly BRE Bank SA) in the class action brought against the bank by a group of 1,247 consumers, which it represented.
The court of appeal thus upheld the decision of the court of first instance, which found that mBank unlawfully charged a portion of loan installments from the consumers who are members of the class, and ruled that these amounts must be repaid with statutory interest.
After 2 months of procedural matters relating to the formation and certification of the class following the initial statement of claim against mBank in the Regional Court in Lodz on December 20, 2010, the first hearing on the merits was held on June 19, 2013. At the hearing, the Regional Court rejected the evidence offered by the bank as irrelevant and filed in order to delay the proceedings. The attorneys for both parties then gave their closing statements. The court adjourned the announcement of the verdict to July 3, 2013. On that date, the court issued its judgment, thus concluding the proceedings at the first instance. The court ruled that mBank had unlawfully charged a portion of the loan installments from the consumers who were members of the group, and ordered that those amounts be reimbursed with statutory interest. Finally, on April 30, 2014, the Court of Appeal in Lodz dismissed the appeal on the merits by mBank.
Eversheds Partner Iwo Gabrysiak, who represented the group of consumers, was pleased with the result. "The dismissal of the defendant’s appeal shows that by using the Class Actions Act, consumers can be just as strong as institutions like banks and other large enterprises, and can effectively enforce their rights,” he said, “This is the first ruling of its kind in Poland, considering the scale of the case and the number of plaintiffs in the group. I believe this may facilitate the use of class actions, which were introduced in Poland only quite recently.”
