A class action is an application to the court by a plaintiff (plaintiffs) on behalf of himself or a group of persons to protect his own interests or the interests of the represented group.
In Russia, the need to file class actions began to appear in the early 90s, when new laws were adopted regarding the protection of consumer rights, environmental protection, sanitary conditions and well-being of the population, etc. However, it should be noted that this form of appeals to the court is not typical for Russian jurisprudence and is most widely used in the USA.
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What is affiliation
Surely, you have ever heard of the existence of such terms as:
- Board of Directors.
- Minority shareholders.
- Shareholders.
- Founder.
All these individuals are associated with the financial world, and in particular with companies and individuals who conduct business activities. Often, a company has: a founder and a board of directors, that is, affiliates whose voice can influence the work of the company or firm.
If a company has a board of directors, it cannot be an average company that is new to the business arena. At a minimum, it must have solid capitalization and weight in the financial market.
The board of directors and the people who appear on it do not create solutions from scratch, they evaluate them and help the founder and his assistants make an existing decision. This could be a project, cooperation with a particular person or company, opening new branches, and so on.
It is necessary to clearly distinguish where the rights of affiliates end and the rights of the company founder begin. The founder of the company is the person who creates and makes key decisions, and affiliates are the people who help him in this.
Essentially speaking, the board of directors is a collection of people who have purchased shares in the company and have the right to vote in making tactical and strategic decisions related to it. They do not participate in forming the composition of the company, do not make fateful decisions and do not pull the company out of the bottom when it is there.
You always need to clearly understand who is the real boss of the company and who is interested in seeing it flourish, and who is simply taking part in its activities. This significant difference should always be taken into account when you start an argument or discussion with someone about who has more weight for the company: the board of directors or its founder.
If the company starts to have problems and is no longer as profitable as it was before, shareholders will simply withdraw their money from it and invest it in other projects. Their financial activity will not end with the collapse of one company, but on the contrary, it will only become stronger and more confident. After all, defeats strengthen a person’s fighting spirit, as do victories.
Advantages and disadvantages of this type of claim
Since the number of victims can be counted not only in tens, but also in thousands, conducting a single process for the entire circle of persons ensures a faster decision than when considering all claims separately. In addition, in this case, it is assumed that there is a large evidence base for a single category of offenses. In this regard, there is a high probability that the requirements described in the statement of claim will be satisfied.
However, these circumstances can also turn against the injured party when resolving a monetary issue. In the case of a large number of victims, as a rule, a large amount is expected to compensate for their losses and damage. The judge may satisfy the claim for payment of compensation, but the real financial capacity of the debtor at the time of the decision is often lower than this amount. Therefore, the actual effectiveness of such satisfied claims may be extremely low.
The lack of extensive experience in the judicial system on the issue of class actions and the paucity of the legislative framework somewhat reduce the chances of victims achieving justice in response to violations of their rights. To achieve a decent level of development in these areas, it is necessary to create more and more new precedents for claims.
What is affiliation as a general rule?
Affiliation involves a chain of high-ranking people within one company who are dependent on each other and work for their own benefit. There are two links in this chain:
- Owner.
- Shareholders.
Shareholders have acquired a stake in the company that allows them to directly influence the decisions made by its CEO. Of course, they will not directly tell him what to do in a given situation. But if the decision made by the founder of the company is not liked by its shareholders, they can directly state this and demand that it be canceled or at least adjusted.
Otherwise, shareholders may withdraw their capital from the company and demand their money back, which would mean immediate collapse for its owner. This does not mean that the owner of the company will have to close his enterprise and enter into a well-deserved entrepreneurial activity. He just has to tinker with restoring his previous earnings and company assets, which takes time and effort.
That is why you need to communicate politely with the shareholders of your company and always make contact with them. It is important to remember that they are also dependent on you, because you manage the company, and you are its main person, which means you decide all the key issues related to it.
But at the same time, never give in to pride and do not become a sole proprietor in business, otherwise you will quickly be drowned by your own shareholders. Nobody likes it when one boss appears in a common matter, and you fade into the background without the right to have a say in it.
It is necessary to maintain a clear boundary between the owner of the company and the people who invested their money in it. The first one runs the business, he is its creator, and the second ones have invested their funds in it and want to get the maximum inflow from them. And at the same time, such a relationship can be used for your own purposes.
After all, business is not only money, it is also opportunities, property, projects, what will remain after you. You can implement interesting ideas, achieve goals and communicate with smart people who, moreover, are pleasant to you.
The ceiling for many is entering the international arena, that is, taking the business to a new level. At this level, a significant role will be played not only by the country in which it appeared, but also by the country in which its owner opened his new branch. This is completely different money and opportunities that should not be missed.
At some point, a businessman crosses that very boundary of awareness at which an explosion occurs in his brain and he realizes that he no longer cares much about money. Now his key goal and dream is to embody his ideas and what cannot be touched with his hands.
For example, a person who is engaged in the extraction of raw materials and receives good money from this can invest it in the development of his business, improve it and take it to a new level. Also in parallel or after this person has perfected his first business, he can open a second business in the field of design, painting or vocal performance.
Many businessmen, after complex technical industries, moved into easier and fresher areas, such as cinema, design, music, travel, programming, and the provision of specific and complex services. The businessman himself does not notice how he becomes more and more interested in something living and modern, and gradually leaves big business and devotes himself entirely.
Concept and legislative framework
A class action implies the possibility of a group of people who have the same objection to the actions of the alleged defendant going to court.
Important! The procedure for filing and reviewing class actions by the court is provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and the CAS of the Russian Federation. Some clarifications on the issue of filing class actions were also expressed in the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated September 27, 2020 No. 36 of the city of Moscow.
Code of Civil Procedure in Art. 40 and APC in Art. 46 contain the norm for filing a claim in court by several persons - procedural complicity. Also Art. 45, 46 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation explains the possibility of one procedural person filing a claim in the interests of an indefinite number of persons.
Most often, a class action lawsuit is filed as part of a civil process, since there is extensive non-compliance with civil rights: labor, financial, housing, etc.
Collective lawsuits are rare in Russian judicial practice
Who is considered an affiliate?
You cannot become an affiliate just like that; only wealthy people with clear goals of joining the company’s board of directors become affiliates. If they do not have such a goal, then you can ask a logical question: why spend money on buying so many shares.
After all, in order to join the board of directors of a company, you need to buy a sufficient number of its shares and become a full shareholder of the company. Only in this case does a person gain access to the activities of the company and have the opportunity to influence the decisions made by the company.
In order to have a high income and be wealthy, a person does not always need to join the board of directors of a company. In most cases, to do this, it is enough for him to take possession of a certain percentage of the number of shares of a profitable company.
But even for this, the potential shareholder will have to fork out money. After all, in order to buy a sufficient number of shares of a profitable enterprise, you need to spend a lot of money. It could be:
- Cafe or restaurant.
- Factory or plant.
- Private enterprise.
- High tech.
- Consulting.
- Logistics.
- Marketing.
In general, there are many areas of business in which you can invest your money, but you will need to choose one and invest a significant amount of money in it:
- Cafe or restaurant.
Depending on how well the location was chosen, the design was done and what the owner of the cafe expected during construction, it can generate different income.
The shareholder is primarily concerned with the profit and prospects of such an investment. As for the profit, one thing can be said: if the owner has done everything correctly, there will be profit, even at the initial level, when the cafe is still unknown to anyone and only regular customers go to it.
This establishment has prospects; again, if it is managed competently, it will bring in significant money, even when it is not yet sufficiently promoted. Then this money only needs to be skillfully converted into even more significant money, using available means: advertising, leaflets, good service and atmosphere, and so on.
The cafe is perceived by society as a medium-sized enterprise that is not capable of bringing in “serious” money by some people’s standards. In many ways this is true. But don’t forget that a cafe can be a good outlet for some billionaire who dreams of at least a little managing a small, but very quiet and cozy establishment.
Also, a cafe or restaurant can generate significant income due to regular visits and holding various kinds of events there: corporate parties, birthdays, concerts, and so on.
The cafe is a strong middle-of-the-road business and those who decide to make money on it and do it right will be able to get the maximum return from it.
- Factory or plant.
A factory sounds somewhat rude and too large-scale, but a factory is just right. There are different factories: for the production of sneakers, clothing, cosmetics, equipment, electronics, and so on. A factory is perceived by people more simply than a plant: it brings in less profit, and therefore less hassle.
If you set up a shoe manufacturing factory, it will generate income no less attractive than the income of any factory, it just doesn’t make any sense. The factory is not intended to make its owner and the people who invested money in it billionaires; it is intended rather as a field for experiments, imagination and ideas; it is not, and will not be, a marketing project or a money-making machine.
Again, everyone has their own path in the ocean called “business”, someone decides to swim exclusively in one sea flowing into this ocean, and someone constantly swims from sea to sea, looking for themselves in each of them. After all, a person gradually gets tired of doing the same thing, no matter how interesting and exciting it may be.
A factory can be a good help for entering the world of big business. Having opened his own factory for sewing clothes or producing cosmetics, in 3-5 years, a person will be able to acquire his own factory and continue his career growth as a businessman.
Remember that getting hung up on one thing means closing yourself off to something new and reaching a dead end with the old. You need to try yourself in new industries and constantly set new goals for yourself in order to stay on your toes and not lose shape.
- Private enterprise.
A smart, and most importantly wise, shareholder will always consider talent even in someone who doesn’t see it at all. If some young, but very talented and ambitious businessman needs money to promote his business, a prudent person can give it to him and then receive the fruits from the tree he planted.
Private entrepreneurship can consist of providing construction services, legal assistance, security, and much more that you can do independently. The main thing in all this is to choose the right area and person in whom you will invest your money.
Concept and basis
The main prerequisite for filing a class action is the commonality of interests of the plaintiffs, uniting the case into a single proceeding. Thus, the process of filing a class or group action is determined by similar interests and can proceed unless the court offers a different course of action.
In Russian jurisprudence there is no common understanding of establishing the boundaries of a class action. Based on the understanding of a claim as a demand for the protection of the rights of an indefinite number of persons, domestic legal science replaced the term “group of persons” with an “indefinite circle” , while in the West the term “class action” is a general concept for a list of claims: property, protection, derivatives, etc.
- The basis of the claim is the factual material, the reason for going to court and the basis for the plaintiff’s claims.
- The subject of a class action is the controversial, identical rights of group members, which develop into legal relations and are, in essence, a dispute between the plaintiff and the defendant.
The subject and basis for the main types of collective claims - property claims and claims for the protection of an unspecified group of persons - are identical:
- defendant - one person;
- the plaintiff's claims are consistent with those of the class members;
- The plaintiff's competence is determined by his personal consent and the consent of the court.
Requirements for representatives of the parties are conscientiousness and adequacy in protecting the interests of the group.
What are the signs of affiliates?
An affiliate has a number of obvious characteristics:
- This person has a large amount of money on him.
- He has clear goals and clear desires.
A person who invests a lot of money in a particular enterprise must know what he is doing and what the consequences of his wrong investment will be. Of course, such a person cannot be stupid or improvident; rather, on the contrary, he will be prudent, patient, resourceful and reasonable.
If a wealthy shareholder begins to invest his money in projects that are unprofitable for him, he will quickly become a poor shareholder who himself will need outside help with money. Of course, this rarely happens and in most cases, we see these people proudly looking forward with a briefcase full of money, but there are exceptions.
For example, a shareholder can invest his money in an unprofitable factory or a small cafe that has never been able to take off. It's worth noting that not all shareholders are beer-bellied people with a lot of money and little enthusiasm. The world knows many shareholders who personally participated in the business in which they invested their money: they resolved complex issues, reached agreements with partners, allocated additional money for innovative projects, and so on.
Depending on what kind of shareholder a person is, he can help his brainchild in every possible way to develop and fly to the top, and even then, when it is already at the very top, accompany and help it in every possible way.
Of course, there is a time and place for everything and every coin has two sides. On the one hand, a shareholder may have a lot of money and a lot of enthusiasm, but on the other hand, he simply may not have time to consider each project in detail and think about how it can help him. In this case, he can entrust this to his assistant, and he himself can only help his favorite project or person.
Multiparty conditions
A civil claim may be brought by two or more plaintiffs in cases where:
- homogeneous rights of citizens were violated, for example, the rights of a collective of employees of one enterprise;
- the general rights of citizens were violated, for example, if these citizens had common property;
- there was a violation of the rights of unrelated citizens during one event. This can happen, for example, in a massive accident involving several cars.
Why are many called a group of affiliates?
Eat:
- Joint-Stock Company.
- Board of Directors.
- Group of affiliates.
All this belongs to the world of finance and means approximately the same thing, namely: the presence of a group of people who have their capital invested in the business of a particular person with the right to influence his activities.
Just because you have invested a certain amount in another person's business does not mean that you will manage it. If a business has such a form of management, it only means that its owner will coordinate his actions with you and if you are both adequate and want the same thing, namely profit, everything should work out for you.
If both the shareholders and the owner of the entire business respect each other and both want to squeeze the most juice out of their enterprise, they will work together, which will be felt by ordinary employees: the secretary, managers, department heads, accountant, even the cleaning lady. Everyone will notice that there is complete agreement and mutual understanding in the company, and if not complete, then the parties are still trying to solve any problems as they arise.
When to file a petition
It is impossible to provide here an exhaustive list of reasons for sending your request to the court. After all, this document is usually submitted in various situations, many of which are not even provided for by procedural law. Especially often, such unforeseen situations arise in criminal trials, when the parties go through almost all stages of the investigative process and try to find clues in relation to each other. In the civil process, the proceedings are calmer and it is possible to outline the range of the most private appeals to the judge, which should be drawn up in writing.
Here are some of the most common cases when you should file a petition:
- on postponing the court hearing (adjournment of the case);
- on changes in claims;
- on the inclusion of documents in the case;
- to summon witnesses or experts to court;
- on requesting evidence;
- on a court examination (handwriting, construction-technical, medical);
- on involving third parties in the case without independent demands;
- on the involvement of a co-defendant;
- on securing a claim;
- on consideration of the case in one’s absence;
- on the issuance of a copy of the judicial act;
- to restore the deadline for filing an appeal;
As you understand, the list is far from complete. There are plenty of options.
Affiliate liability
Of course, someone who invests a lot of money can have big problems. Cases are considered indicative when the prosecutor's office begins to become interested in the owner of a company and, at the same time, it captures its shareholders.
For some reason, employees of the prosecutor's office have a strong impression that if the owner of a company was caught in illegal actions, the shareholders who invested their money in it must also be involved. And in many ways this is true.
The fact is that shareholders invest a lot of money in the company and have access to the actions that its head performs, and they simply cannot help but notice any illegal moves into the business or strange manipulations with accounts.
An affiliate may also in parallel be liable to the shareholders whose interests it represents. After all, in business there is usually:
- Owner of company.
- Board of Directors.
- Chairman of the Board of Directors.
- Representative of the board of directors.
In fact, the chairman of the board of directors performs the same type of functions that are of no interest to anyone, and all activities are carried out by the face of the company, that is, it is he who negotiates with clients, helps the owner of the company resolve key issues related to it and negotiates with other shareholders.
With all this, this person may not even be a shareholder of the company; he may not contribute a single ruble to it. It’s just that this person may be smart, inventive, and for a long time he could have held a leadership position in some company or firm. That is, this is a person who is clearly no stranger to this area and knows it from the inside.
You should always remember that people who are closely involved with the world of finance and want to work in it on equal terms cannot a priori be stupid. It’s just that everyone has their own level of mental thinking and ingenuity, so somewhere one may lose, somewhere a second, and somewhere a third.
Filing a petition to the court for mitigation of punishment
- the accused is the parent or guardian of a child under 14 years of age who can only be cared for by the offender;
- the crime was committed in order to solve problems from which it was impossible to find another way out;
- compassion for the hardships of others;
- the crime was committed under pressure or coercion;
- the accused is dependent on another person;
- excessive zeal in self-defense or execution of an assignment, while the accused did not want to harm the other party;
- immoral behavior on the part of the victim or other type of provocation;
- guilty on the part of the criminal after the verdict;
- the criminal leveled his guilt in some way (provided first aid, reimbursed material costs, transferred funds to repay the damage caused).
- The culprit admitted his guilt and repented.
- Illegal acts no longer occur after the defendant becomes aware that the law has been violated.
- The offender independently reported the offense.
- The accused assisted the investigation, presented facts and evidence of violations.
- The consequences of the violation were voluntarily eliminated.
- Damage is compensated on a voluntary basis.
- The damage caused was eliminated before a decision was made on the case under consideration.
- If the accused acted in a state of passion, this will require a medical and psychiatric examination.
- The offender is a pregnant woman.
- The offender is a minor.
