Class action institute as a legal protection measure of public interest in the field of consumer rights

• Leidėjo tinklalapis: leidinio tekstas

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Grupės ieškinys; Vartotojų teisių apsauga; Viešasis interesas. Keywords: Class action; Group action; Consumer protection; Public interest.Reikšminiai žodžiai: Grupės ieškinys; Vartotojų apsauga; Viešasis interesas; Class action; Group action; Consumer protection; Public interest.

ENSince 2015, the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania (CCP of the RL) legalized a Class Action Institute (CAI) whose main purpose is to establish a procedure for the compensation of damage suffered by a group of persons or to prohibit unlawful actions against this group. The consolidation of the CAI in a civil procedural law is linked to the protection of consumer rights with the purpose of protecting public interest. Over the last 5 years, Lithuanian judicial practice has shown that there have been a few attempts to bring a class action. In many cases, courts failed to adjudicate on them or returned the claims to the plaintiffs to remedy deficiencies, and consumers encountered procedural hurdles in defending their infringed rights, which led to the ineffectiveness of the CAI. On 14 January 2020, the Lithuanian legislator adopted an improved procedure for the admission and trial of a class action in order to enable the group to more easily protect infringed rights in court. However, neither the original version of the CCP of the RL, nor the new regulation does not establish a category of public interest. The law applicable to class action refers only to the concept of the interest of the group members. The article hypothesizes that the CAI in Lithuanian civil proceedings does not ensure effective protection mechanism of public interest in the field of consumer rights. The research carried out allows to justify the relation of public interest with the CAI in Lithuanian civil procedure. [From the publication]