Consumer-related group litigation(""Verbandsklage"" in German) is directly relevant to two incompatible concept: the customer"s (citizen"s) legal protection of life. body. and private properties. and the corporation"s self-protection against the abu...
Consumer-related group litigation(""Verbandsklage"" in German) is directly relevant to two incompatible concept: the customer"s (citizen"s) legal protection of life. body. and private properties. and the corporation"s self-protection against the abuse of power to initiate an action. The unlawful use of right to commence litigation may cause the insecurity of either side by undermining the multiple consumers" claim to life. body. and private properties or even by ultimately causing the breakdown of the corporation.
To minimize its liability. the Consumer Basic Act limits the institute of the group litigation to the group of people who are in charge of the protection of the customer rights as well as to the cases in which the lawful rights of life. body. and private properties of multiple customers is or can be trespassed. The restriction on the plaintiff proclaims the standing to sue in a consumer group litigation and the regulation of the applicable cases proclaims the real parties in interest. The Act constrains that only the institutors who based on the articles of the association always pursue the promotion of the customer rights as the primary goal. retain one thousand or more (or five thousand or more) members. and affiliate themselves with an organization with the record of actual performance for one or longer years (three or longer years). undoubtedly capable of protecting the customer rights. Currently, about 145 organizations are officially qualified for the requirements. The said Act also restricts the range of applicable cases to the ones necessary for the public benefits. including the protection of the legal rights of the customer and the precaution against further damages. For the protection of the corporate defendants and prevention of the suitors" abuse of group litigation. the plaintiffs are fundamentally forbidden to institute second suit once the judgment is given against the them. For the protection of the rights of the customers and the smoothness of their lawsuit process. on the other hand. the Group Litigation law acknowledges the institute against the transgression of customer"s rights as the property-unrelated actions. reducing the lawsuit fee to ₩20,000,100. Such accommodation is an institutional measure to protect the rights of both the customer and the corporation, although it needs to be more and more refined in specific points, especially in regard to the standing to sue and the validity of the judicial decision.
Even more essential than any other accommodating measures, however, is the consolidation of the producer"s morality on the producers" side and the proper conception of the safe-guarding the customer"s rights on the customer"s side because the law system is elaborated to accommodate the people themselves.