Olga Novinskaya has outlined the prospects of consumer extremism of covid-dissidents for the DP

The first process on a new type of consumer extremism may start in St Petersburg. A man without a mask refused to be served in a store, and now he demands financial compensation for moral damages, appealing to the law on consumer protection. It should be noted that similar cases have already been considered by the courts of other regions that refused to pay compensation.

As Olga Novinskaya junior associate at Maxima Legal told the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper, “such court decisions are likely to remain isolated, and the practice of challenging the actions of retail outlets will not become widespread. The point of view of courts on such claims of covid-dissidents will not change in the near future”.  One of the reasons given by the expert was the onerous nature of the legal process: the possible benefit of a successful case may be much less than the time and material costs. And in the conditions of a pandemic, the chance to win such a case tends to zero.

“Consumer protection legislation primarily regulates civil relations involving consumers, while regional acts on measures against the spread of coronavirus concern epidemiological well-being. The latter are based on a number of federal laws on epidemiological well-being and protection of the population from emergency situations. We cannot interpret laws of various directions in isolation, but we also cannot build their hierarchy without taking into account the nature of the relations they regulate,” Olga summed up.

To read the full article (in Russian) please see the website of the Delovoy Peterburg >>>