Defend against a consumer group action
You have been given formal notice by an approved consumer association to bring into compliance one of your commercial practices, or clauses of your contractual conditions which, according to its interpretation, would violate legal provisions and harm several consumers. Very often this same association has communicated publicly and actively about its approach, even before you have been able to respond.
You are therefore concerned that:
- your liability may be incurred by the same association as part of a group action,
- the publicity around this contentious action, relayed by the press, damages your brand image.
Consumer group action regulations
The Hamon law of 17 March 2014 introduced class action in France, inspired by the Class action procedure widely used in the United States.
The class action is a procedure that allows people, victims of the same harm, committed by a professional, to go to court collectively in order to obtain compensation.
The class action is codified in Articles L623-1 et seq. of the Consumer Code. Its terms and conditions of exercise are set out in Decree No. 2014-1081 of 24 September 2014 and commented on by the circular of 26 September 2014 of the Ministry of Justice:
- a class action may be initiated if at least two consumers believe they have suffered harm as a result of the same breach by a trader;
- the action must be brought in court by an approved association;
- it is only possible to launch a class action to repair material damage, exclusively for disputes relating to consumption or competition.
Initially provided for in the area of consumption, group action is now also applicable in the field of health, in the presence of discrimination (especially at work), in environmental law and concerning the protection of personal data.
Since 2014, all actions introduced by consumer associations that have achieved very measured results have been accompanied by very strong media coverage harmful to the reputation of the companies concerned.
Companies must protect themselves against this risk of condemnation and also against reputational risk.
Lawyers to prevent any risk of class action by these consumer associations
A specialist in consumer law, and accustomed to defending professionals in the context of class actions, Gouache Avocats assists you in the prevention of any class action, and in the defense of your interests in the event of a class action initiated against you by a consumer defense association.
Gouache Avocats offers several solutions to prevent a possible class action:
- Audits of B to C contracts to identify possible unfair terms or potential sources of litigation, but also to analyze old disputes with consumers in order to prevent the risks of new action;
- Assistance in organizing a follow-up of complaints made to customer service to establish a typology of risks and create an alert procedure;
- Assistance in setting up an e-reputational monitoring of group actions in the sector in order to prevent any action on the same subject.
Lawyers to defend you in the event of a consumer group action against your brand
Gouache Avocats also defends your interests if a class action is initiated against you.
Schematically, the class action operates in two phases: the study by the Court of the admissibility of the action, and then the merits of the action. In the phase of studying the admissibility of the action, Gouache Avocats assists you in verifying that the consumer association does indeed have standing to act, in particular with regard to its statutory provisions, and that the summons does indeed meet the conditions of admissibility set by the Consumer Code.
On the merits of the case, its quality as a consumer specialist makes it the best ally to defend your practice, and respond to the legal problem that is the subject of the class action.
The firm’s intervention will allow you to:
- anticipate any subject that may give rise to a group action,
- to stop the action of the association in the pre-litigation phase by responding to each argument put forward in the formal notice,
- to have the class action dismissed on the grounds of admissibility or merits of the case,
- to protect your brand image
Guillaume Gouachon
Avocat associé
Responsable "Consommation, produits et conformité"
Martine Behar Touchais
Professeur de droit Of counsel
Responsable "Distribution & Concurrence"
