In Europe, or at least Germany, there are consumer protection initiatives that have standing to sue in such cases. They sometimes take up individuals’ cases, and even take companies to court preemptively for onerous ToS. Mobile phone companies have been hit by such lawsuits quite a few times. Similarly, there’s an environmental group that has forced several large German cities to implement (partial) bans of diesel cars based on EU pollution limits being repeatedly being broken.
The concept of class-action lawsuits isn’t as relevant here, and there is no such concept as “punitive damages”. The best you can hope for is a court order granting you whatever Igor is in dispute plus any actual damages.
Lawyers’ fees and court costs are also awarded to the winner by default, with a sliding scale for such fees based on the value in dispute. You can sometimes find a lawyer who will take your case if they are optimistic as to your chances, but of the cases I know, this mostly happens when the lawyer also has some ideological interest in it (say privacy or labor law).
There is insurance you can buy that will cover legal costs, but you will need to convince them of your chances in any litigation that you want to initiate (as opposed to being sued). There are also a number of non-profits that offer legal services for specific issues, typically in exchange for yearly fees: unions, tenants’ organisation, and even dog owners’ or RC airplane clubs.
The concept of class-action lawsuits isn’t as relevant here, and there is no such concept as “punitive damages”. The best you can hope for is a court order granting you whatever Igor is in dispute plus any actual damages.
Lawyers’ fees and court costs are also awarded to the winner by default, with a sliding scale for such fees based on the value in dispute. You can sometimes find a lawyer who will take your case if they are optimistic as to your chances, but of the cases I know, this mostly happens when the lawyer also has some ideological interest in it (say privacy or labor law).
There is insurance you can buy that will cover legal costs, but you will need to convince them of your chances in any litigation that you want to initiate (as opposed to being sued). There are also a number of non-profits that offer legal services for specific issues, typically in exchange for yearly fees: unions, tenants’ organisation, and even dog owners’ or RC airplane clubs.