IGNORANCE OF THE LAW, MISTAKE AND JUDICIAL PROTECTION OF CONSUMER’S RIGHTS: THE PUZZLE OF COLLECTIVE ACTIONS IN THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of the ignorance of the law and the mistake of law or of fact in the context of Consumer collective redress. In essence, Consumer law is designed to protect the rights and interests of the weakest party, i.e. consumers and users. Nevertheless, when access to justice of consumers and users is exercised via collective actions launched by consumers and users associations (art. 11 of the Spanish Code of Civil Procedure), the fragmented procedural and substantive
legal framework may lead to cases in which even the fundamental rights of consumers and users considered individually —access to justice or due process— could be violated due to the application of the res judicata effect or the lis pendens reply