Group action or individual cases handled as a series?

These are two ways of handling a dispute that affects many people. In a group action, recast by the Act of 30 April 2025, an association or an entity sues on behalf of the group. When individual cases are handled as a series, each person keeps their own lawyer, agreement and judgment. Hello Justice’s Swiss franc loan programme follows this second route.

What sets the two routes apart.

Both routes start from a common situation: the same breach has harmed many people.

Group actions since the Act of 30 April 2025.

A group action allows a qualified claimant to go to court to obtain compensation for the individual losses of people in a similar situation. Article 16 of Act no. 2025-391 of 30 April 2025 recast this procedure and opened it to every area of law Source [1]. It transposes Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of 25 November 2020 on representative actions Source [2].

The claimant is an association or an entity, and decree no. 2025-1191 of 10 December 2025 sets the procedure for approving it, for a domestic or cross‑border action Source [5]. Some trade unions may also bring such an action Source [1]. Eight tribunaux judiciaires, designated on 16 July 2025, have jurisdiction: Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Paris, Rennes and Fort‑de‑France Source [3]. Decree no. 2025-734 of 30 July 2025 lays down the procedure Source [4].

We describe this regime in detail in our article on group actions in France.

Individual cases handled as a series.

Serial litigation brings together near‑identical disputes arising from the same triggering event. Handled as a series, they remain separate matters, run in the same way. Each client keeps ownership of their claim and remains a party to their own proceedings, with their own lawyer and fee agreement.

The legal analysis, the model pleadings and the list of evidence to gather, on the other hand, serve the whole series, which makes each case lighter to prepare. A specialised partner lawyer then checks the eligibility of each one: the features of the dispute, the limitation period, the completeness of the documents and the reasonable prospects of success. Not every case is accepted.

Each client nonetheless keeps their own documents, and their lawyer quantifies the claim on the basis of the client’s loss. The proceedings also move at their own pace, without waiting for a group to be formed, and their length depends on the calendar of the court hearing the case.

Losing one matter does not bring down the others. Similar disputes do, however, share the same law, and a reversal of case law can affect them together. Our article on serial litigation describes each stage of a series.

Who runs the proceedings and who decides.

In a group action, the association or entity that sues runs the proceedings and negotiates with the business on behalf of the group. It may receive third‑party funds, provided that the funder has no influence against the interests of those represented, over the launch or the conduct of the action Source [1]. The statute also requires it to avoid any conflict of interest throughout the proceedings, and if this is challenged, the court may require documents proving there is none Source [1]. For consumer representative actions, Directive (EU) 2020/1828 prohibits a funder from financing an action against one of its competitors or from unduly influencing the entity’s decisions Source [2].

In an individual case, the lawyer alone runs the proceedings: strategy, submissions, hearings and negotiation. According to a resolution of the Paris Bar of 21 February 2017, they take instructions only from their client and pass no information about the case to the funder Source [10]. The two of them decide what happens next, and they review any settlement offer. In the agreement Hello Justice proposes, the funder has no mandate to represent the client and no power to give instructions.

The sums obtained.

In a group action, a single set of proceedings carries the claims of everyone represented. Compensation for each individual loss therefore depends on their outcome, or on the settlement the entity negotiates.

In an individual case, each judgment rules on the claim of a single person, quantified from their own documents. The lawyer pays the sums received for the client, whether damages or the amount of a settlement, into their CARPA account, which the bar supervises, before passing them on Source [8]. In the Swiss franc loan programme, the borrower receives the funds once the decision is final.

How each route is funded.

Article 16 of the Act of 30 April 2025 is the first French statute to refer expressly to third‑party litigation funding. It allows it for group actions, provided the funder exerts no influence against the interests of the people represented Source [1]. Decree no. 2025-1191 of 10 December 2025, which has applied since 1 January 2026, sets out the disclosure of such funding Source [5]. Directive (EU) 2020/1828, for its part, provides that where justified doubts arise, the entity discloses the sources of its funds to the court or administrative authority Source [2].

These texts do not govern an individual case. Its funding rests on freedom of contract, set out in article 1102 of the French Civil Code Source [6]. In November 2015, the National Bar Council came out in favour of the practice, provided the lawyer keeps their independence and the litigant remains their only client Source [9]. The Versailles Court of Appeal had already accepted this contract of its own kind on 1 June 2006, in Foris AG v Veolia Propreté Source [7]. No provision prohibits or organises it.

The client, their lawyer and the funder sign a tripartite agreement, designed to comply with the lawyer’s professional rules Source [8]. It sets the scope of the funding and the rate of the commission. The funder covers the lawyer’s fees and is paid out of the sums recovered, only if the case succeeds. If the proceedings fail, it can claim nothing from the client: this is the non‑recourse principle.

The Swiss franc loan programme.

Hello Justice applies this series approach to Swiss franc home loans taken out between 2002 and 2015, without going through a group action. We estimate the number of eligible cases at around 50,000.

ACTIVE AVOCATS, a firm of the COGEP AVOCATS group, runs the programme’s proceedings independently. Each borrower signs their own fee agreement online and remains free to choose their lawyer. Hello Justice funds the case, without interfering in the firm’s strategy.

The programme’s tools serve the whole series. Hello Justice’s simulator recalculates each instalment of a loan at the official European Central Bank rates and at the interest rates set by the contract. It then checks the result against the bank’s amortisation schedule. ACTIVE AVOCATS relies on this calculation to quantify each borrower’s claim.

On 9 July 2025, the Cour de cassation published two rulings on these loans, recent case law, liable to change Source [12]. One opens unfair‑terms protection to borrowers paid in Swiss francs. The other, handed down the same day, upholds the clause of a bank that had informed its client clearly. A specialised partner lawyer therefore first reviews, on the documents, the information each borrower received at signing.

A group action goes before one of the eight designated courts. In an individual case, the French Consumer Code gives the borrower a choice Source [11]. They can go to one of the courts with jurisdiction under the Code of Civil Procedure. They can also go to the court of the place where they lived when the contract was concluded.

If you took out a Swiss franc loan, the programme page, in French, sets out its terms and lets you have your loan checked.

Frequently asked questions.

Is the Swiss franc loan programme a group action?

No. Each borrower keeps their own case, their fee agreement and their compensation, calculated on their own loss. A group action is a separate procedure, which a qualified claimant brings on behalf of several people. ACTIVE AVOCATS runs each case in the programme, and Hello Justice funds those the firm accepts.

How can I find out whether a group action is under way?

Article 16 of the Act of 30 April 2025 creates a public register of group actions pending before all courts Source [1]. The Ministry of Justice keeps it and makes it available to the public, under the conditions set by decree no. 2025-734 of 30 July 2025 Source [4]. A lawyer can then explain what such an action changes for a particular situation.

Can both routes exist for the same dispute?

Yes. A group action and individual cases can target the same breach. Each person decides with a lawyer which route suits their situation. For a dispute other than a Swiss franc loan, the eligibility test lets you describe it to Hello Justice.

Can a lawyer present several clients’ cases to a funder?

Yes. Any lawyer can submit a client’s case to Hello Justice, and a specialised partner lawyer analyses its eligibility. Not every case is accepted. If funding is granted, each client signs their own agreement with their lawyer and the funder. Similar matters then share the legal analysis and the standard documents of their series.