Legal Literacy - In the case of filing a civil lawsuit, there is a term known as Class Action or Representative Action. Class Action originated in England, as a lawsuit filed by a group of people who have the same interests or cases. In Indonesia, this lawsuit is known as a group representative lawsuit.
In other words, a lawsuit class action is a procedure for filing a lawsuit, where one or more people representing a group file a lawsuit for themselves or on behalf of themselves, and at the same time represent all members of the group who have the same legal interests. This lawsuit is a mechanism for legal protection for mass victims who are large in number and have the same legal interests.
Legal Basis of Group Representative Lawsuit
The class action lawsuit procedure is regulated in Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2002 concerning Class Action Lawsuits. Article 1 a of Supreme Court Regulation 1/2002 explains that what is meant by a class action lawsuit is a procedure for filing a lawsuit, where one or more people can represent a group in filing a lawsuit for themselves while representing a large group of people, who have the same facts and legal basis between the group representative and the members of the group being represented. Meanwhile, the group representative in Article 1 b of Supreme Court Regulation 1/2022, is explained as one or more people who have suffered losses and filed a lawsuit while representing a large group.
Class action lawsuits are possible in the event of environmental pollution as regulated in Article 91 of Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management, and with the aim of protecting consumers as regulated in Article 46 of Law No. 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection. The requirements for filing a lawsuit as per Article 91 of Law 32/2009 and Article 46 of Law 8/1999 must refer to the provisions in Supreme Court Regulation 1/2022.
Requirements for Filing a Group Representative Lawsuit
The Requirements for Filing a Lawsuit are regulated in Article 2 of Supreme Court Regulation 1/2022, as follows:
- The large number of group members makes it ineffective or inefficient if the lawsuit is carried out individually or jointly in one lawsuit.
- There is a similarity of facts or events and a similarity of legal basis used which is substantial in nature, and there is a similarity in the type of claim between the group representative and the members of the group.
- The group representative has the sincerity and honesty to protect the interests of the group he represents.
Article 4 of Supreme Court Regulation 1/2022 explains that in order to represent group members, the group representative is not required to obtain a special power of attorney from group members. The group lawsuit letter that is made refers to the requirements as a civil lawsuit in general, which is that there is at least the identity of the parties, Fundamentum Petendi or the basis of the claim, and Petitum (expectations for judge's decision"). Specifically, the identities in the class action lawsuit must include the complete identity of the group representative and the identities of those represented without mentioning the group members one by one.
Benefits of Filing a Group Representative Lawsuit
The benefits of filing a class action lawsuit are that the procedure is simpler and the costs are lower. If a case or lawsuit is carried out by one person at a time, even though the interests of the lawsuit are the same, the case will take a long time and become ineffective.
The presence of class action or a class action lawsuit can prevent plaintiffs consisting of many people who have the same interests from filing lawsuits individually. In addition, the application of class action lawsuits is a representative form of the principle of speedy, simple, and low-cost justice for justice seekers.
Example of Class Action Lawsuit
One example of a class action lawsuit that has occurred in Indonesia is a lawsuit against the fraudulent investment case of PT. First Travel. In this case, there were thousands of victims who suffered losses of up to billions of rupiah. The class action lawsuit against this case has been granted by the court and PT. First Travel was sentenced to pay compensation to the victims.
Conclusion
Thus, class action or a class action lawsuit is filed by a party who has a direct interest, namely a person or group whose rights have been violated or who has suffered a loss, and represents a group of many people who have been harmed by the same thing. However, a class action lawsuit can also be filed by a party that is not directly harmed, such as a lawsuit filed by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) regarding consumer issues or by Greenpeace regarding environmental issues.
Comments (0)
Write a comment