By Richard W. Wigley King & Wood Mallesons’ IP Litigation Group

Under the Civil Procedure Law of the P.R.C. (“CPL”), Articles 53-56 of the current CPL define requirements for filing a “joint litigation”, including those suits where said joint litigation may involve “one party with numerous litigants”.[1] To this latter scenario, Article 55 of the CPL notes that where “one of the parties has numerous litigants, but the exact number of litigants is uncertain when the lawsuit is filed, the People’s Court may issue a public notice to explain the nature of the case and the claims of the litigation and inform those persons who are entitled to the claim to register their rights with the People’s Court within a fixed time period.”[2] Article 55 goes on to provide that the litigants may elect “representatives” and further defines the binding nature of the Court’s ruling on not only the “representative”, but upon all litigants.[3]
Continue Reading China’s Civil Procedure Law Reported to be Amended to Broaden Definition of Types of Litigants Allowed to File Class-action Lawsuits