Environmental Dispute through Civil Settlement

7 Jul

Law No. 32 of 2009 regarding the Protection and Management of the Environment (“Environmental Law”) provides certain mechanism to resolve an environmental dispute including a class action that recognizes the rights of individuals and/or environmental organizations.

This ARMA update will discuss the basics of filing environmental dispute lawsuits that can be carried out by individuals, groups or use the class action mechanism.

Individual Lawsuit

Anyone that affected by pollution and/or environmental damage caused by the actions of business actors must be compensated.¹

There are two types of compensation that business actors can give if they violate Article 87 of the Environmental Law, namely compensation and taking certain actions. Such actions include:

Prevention of environmental pollution and/or destruction;
Countermeasures of environmental pollution and/or destruction; and/or
Restoration of environmental functions.

Environmental Organization Lawsuit

The environmental organizations’ right to sue emphasizes the basis that environmental organizations are the "guardians" of the environment or represent the public interest, including the interests of the environment. Environmental organizations have the legal standing to file a lawsuit in the interest of preserving environmental functions if they fulfill the following criteria:²

The objective of the organization is to protect the environment based on the organization's articles of association;
The organization must be in the form of a legal entity;
The organization must carry out activities in accordance with its articles of association for a minimum of 2 (two) years; and
The organization must be representative.

Class Action Lawsuit

In the case of environmental pollution or destruction, individual lawsuits are considered ineffective because the victims of environmental pollution or damage may vary, and the process will take a long time and costly. Based on this, the Environmental Law introduces a class-action lawsuit, which is filed jointly by being represented by a small group of people called class representatives.³

Class- action lawsuits are a way for justice seekers to get compensated for violations of legal rights. A class action is a solution for cases that causes harm to many people and have the same facts or legal basis as well as the same defendant. If submitted individually, it becomes ineffective.

The class action is regulated in the Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2002 regarding Procedures for Lawsuits for Group Representatives that states one or more people representing a group file a lawsuit for themselves and at the same time represent a large group of people, that have the same facts or the same legal basis and the same claims between the group representatives and members of the group.

A case can only be filed with a class action lawsuit if it meets the following requirements:

The number of group members is so large that it is impractical and efficient to file lawsuits individually;
There are similarities in facts or events and similarities in the legal basis used that are substantial, and there are similarities in types of claims between-group representatives and group members; and
Group representatives have honesty and sincerity to protect the interests of the group members they represent.

In order to file a class-action lawsuit, a class action lawsuit must meet the following requirements:

Complete and clear identity of group representatives;
A detailed and specific definition of the group;
Information about group members for the obligation to make notifications;
Posita from all group representatives and group members;
If the amount of the claim is not the same because the nature and level of the loss differs from one member to another, then in one representative lawsuit, it can be grouped into various groups or sub-groups; and
Claims or petitions regarding compensation must be stated clearly and in detail.

Article 87 of the Environmental Law
Article 92 of the Environmental Law
Article 91 of the Environmental Law

Disclaimer:
This client update is the property of ARMA Law and intended for providing general information and should not be treated as legal advice, nor shall it be relied upon by any party for any circumstance. ARMA Law has no intention to provide a specific legal advice with regard to this client update.

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