Some prospects for collective proceedings in the face of the New CPC

Abstract

Since the last quarter of the 20th century, the great novelty of the process has been the possibility of protecting diffuse, collective and individual homogeneous rights more and more effectively, through so-called class actions. In this context, certain bodies have been granted legitimacy for this purpose. Class actions gained strength and notoriety with the enactment of the Consumer Protection Code (Law No. 8.078/90), but it is true that previous laws had already, to a certain extent, broken with the basic structure of the Civil Procedure Code, which was geared towards resolving individual conflicts. This can be seen in the Popular Action Law (Law No. 4.717/65) and then the Public Civil Action Law (Law No. 7.347/85). It is worth noting, in this respect, that collective actions are in line with a modern trend in procedural law, since they are actions that have the power to deal with the interests of a large - sometimes even indeterminate - number of people in a single process, and therefore with great procedural economy. In this context, two factors must be analyzed with particular interest: the legitimacy to act in class actions and the differentiated regime of res judicata in relation to that which is proper to individual actions. As is readily apparent, there is a break with the cardinal rules of the Code of Civil Procedure, which was designed and aimed at resolving individual conflicts. In fact, class actions imply a break with fundamental rules.