Appealing a court decision in a civil case is a process aimed at canceling or amending a previously adopted act. The requirements for the complaint, the review procedure are set out in the procedural codes.
What to ask for?
All actions of the court are formalized either by rulings or decisions. The first category of acts relates to intermediate issues, the second to the very essence of the matter. The decision is the final judicial act adopted in the case. The law gives the right to request the cancellation of both the interim determination and the final decision.
It should be noted that in a number of cases the court makes the final decision also in the form of a determination. Basically, these are cases of special production. Those acts that do not affect the rights of citizens from the point of view of the legislator, for example, the ruling on opening a case, are not appealed. The codes indicate what is allowed to file complaints and what is not.
Cancel absentee decision
An absentee decision is taken in the absence of the defendant. Some conditions are required:
- Evidence of receipt of summons and copies of the claim.
- There is no request to postpone the hearing. There is no good reason for the absence of the defendant.
- The plaintiff agrees to the decision in absentia.
- At the meeting, the plaintiff did not supplement or change his requirements and the grounds for the claim.
An appeal of a court decision in a civil case in this case is very specifically constructed. The second party, having familiarized with the decision, has the right to ask for its cancellation from the same judge within 7 days after receiving the papers. The statement substantiates the validity of the absence from the meeting. Evidence is also indicated that could, in the opinion of the party, affect the decision. After the end of the weekly period for the cancellation of the absentee decision, the time for the appeal is counted down. The application for cancellation is submitted once. The second time it will not work to write it - the law prohibits.
Appeal system
An appeal of a court decision in a civil case is organized as follows:
- District courts on decisions of justices of the peace.
- Republican, regional, city branches (cities of federal significance).
- District (naval) courts for decisions and determinations of garrison ships.
The third category includes institutions considering cases concerning the system of the Armed Forces, as well as military personnel. They consider a lot of civil cases: disputes about pensions, housing, payments in connection with service, etc. In short, these are disputes that are not dealt with by the so-called civil court. The case management system is organized in the same way in the military and civil courts. The first are only less loaded. And time is spent on processes much less.
Cassation and supervisory bodies, the role of the Constitutional Court and the ECHR
We talked about the courts of appeal. At the same time, the cassation instance is represented by republican, regional, city courts (cities of federal significance). Special collegiums, the presidiums of the courts, are working on such complaints. Then follows the supervisory authority - located in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. If the judge refused to open the proceedings, the right is given to complain to the President. And he or his deputies are entitled to cancel the refusal to open supervisory proceedings.
The cancellation of a court decision is directly ensured by the listed authorities. The Constitutional Court interprets laws and assesses their compliance with the Basic Law in a case considered by all other courts. The decision of the Constitutional Court on the complaint (both positive and negative, too) may be the basis for the review of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation as previously adopted acts in the case, which served as the reason for the complaint to the Constitutional Court, and other similar acts. The Constitutional Court itself does not cancel court decisions.
The ECtHR decides whether there have been any violations of the Convention on Human Rights in the proceedings before the domestic courts. Its competence does not include decision-making on the merits. A positive decision of this court may also be the reason for the review of judicial acts in the system of national courts.
Why is there no point in complaining to KKS and other bodies?
The annulment of a court decision is the prerogative of an exclusively higher court. No other authorities have the right to deal with these issues or somehow influence them. On the website of the President of the Russian Federation, for example, it is directly indicated that he does not interfere in the judicial system. Civil court or military - it doesn’t matter.
People often complain about decisions in the CCC - qualification commissions. However, they deal with disciplinary matters. For example, it makes sense to the commission to complain about the delay of the trial by the judge, his incorrect behavior. If you touch upon the application of the law, its interpretation, the complaint will not even be considered. Incorrect application of the law can be a cause of punishment, provided that this is confirmed by an act of a higher authority. Until the annulment of the court decision follows, it is considered legal, and it cannot be punished.
Timing requirements
In order to prevent overloading the judicial system and public relations, complaints are allowed to be submitted within a limited time. It is submitted for a final decision within a month, for interim decisions or determinations - within 15 days from the day the court makes the decision. This applies to the court of appeal. 6 months are allotted for cassation, 3 months for supervision.
In all cases, the time is counted from the next day when the decision was made. An exception is the absence of a party in a meeting. If the decision is made in the first instance, then the time for this party to appeal is counted from the date of receipt of the documents by mail.
What should a complaint be based on?
Public relations are regulated by law. The judge is obliged in the dispute or in the process of considering the application, if there is no dispute, apply the appropriate regulatory acts. Interpretation should also be consistent with a generally accepted understanding of the law. Interpretation is provided by the Constitutional and Supreme Courts. The first deals with the interpretation of laws in the light of the Constitution. The second generalizes the application of laws and acts of a by-law nature.
An interpretation of a more general nature is contained in the decisions of the Plenums of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In addition, case studies of specific cases are issued each quarter. They describe typical cases to which it is reasonable to refer in claims and complaints. When writing a complaint, it is advisable to quote the legislative acts themselves. Similarly, a drafted application to the court is more difficult to reject. At the same time, the documents in the court should not be repeated or write extra things.
General complaint requirements
Legal practice shows that complaints are drawn up according to one pattern. The problem is always the argument and the correct understanding of the law. What should the complaint contain? It should include the following components:
- The name of the court where she goes.
- Information about the parties (name, address; name and address, if it is an organization).
- Number, date of decision or decisions.
- Copies of cassation or supervisory review, to the complaint to the Chairman of the RF Armed Forces must be accompanied by copies of earlier decisions in the case with wet seals.
- Reasons, grounds to consider earlier decisions illegal. For example, ignoring facts, circumstances, legislative acts, refusal to accept evidence, their incorrect interpretation.
- Application in the form of a listing of documents attached to the complaint.
- State duty payment receipt.
- Signature of the author of the application, copy of the power of attorney, if the author is a representative.
- Date of application. It should correspond to the day of delivery of papers to the post office or to the registry of the court.
The number of copies of documents must correspond to the number of parties to the case. One set is provided to the court.
Why are complaints dismissed?
Despite the detailed regulation of the trial, an abundance of clarifications on the application of the law, errors are present in every case. However, not every one of them is considered a reason for canceling a previously adopted judicial act. Whether or not they agree with the complaint depends on the seriousness of the mistakes made: whether they could influence the court decision on the claim or not. The Civil Procedure Code repeats several times the rule on the inadmissibility of repealing a substantive judicial act. But even this does not save when making a number of mistakes, if we are talking about the following points:
- Violation of the secrets of the consultation room.
- The case was not sent a summons. There is no information in the materials that he received it or refused to accept it.
- Unlawful refusal to accept evidence affecting the outcome of a dispute.
Practice has developed many trips. Both experienced representatives and judges use them. It so happened that it is easier to achieve cancellation due to a violation of the rules of the process than substantive law. This is a common reason when, in fact, a legal court decision is quashed. The reasons for this are difficult to explain. Nevertheless, this is happening. And the violation of the articles of the procedural code, noticed by a higher authority, often serves as the basis for applying sanctions to the violating judge.
Change of decision
A higher court has broad powers in relation to decisions taken earlier:
- Cancellation and termination of business.
- Adoption of a new judicial act and repeal of all previous ones.
- The return into force of one of the acts adopted earlier, but then canceled.
- Change of court decision in part.
For example, there are errors in the motivation part. The judge made the right decision, misinterpreting the law. And the higher authority changes a few lines, leaving the result intact. This happens with claims with several claims or in financial disputes, when they changed the amount of the recoverable amount or changed the decision on one of the claims.
For example, the court of appeal agreed with the eviction of not all residents of the house, but only one defendant. An application to the court with a complaint sometimes leads to unexpected results. In the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of those cases in which the proceedings are opened, it is decided to send them for review to the first or appeal court. It is rare when the Supreme Court, having canceled all the decisions taken, makes a new final act.
Who to contact for help?
People sometimes cannot solve their problems for one reason - lack of knowledge. It does not matter if they decide to appeal against a decision of an administrative court or another. What should I look for when choosing a lawyer? First of all, these are the following factors:
- The reputation of a person, his good faith.
- Experience in a specific category of cases. You can’t understand everything well at the same time. For example, there are experts in disputes about eviction, debt repayment, inheritance matters, etc.
- Guaranteed results - a good lawyer will never say that there is no doubt about winning. They are present in all processes without exception.
You should not change the lawyer after each meeting or appeal stage. To study the case materials, understanding all the nuances takes a lot of time. It is easier for a specialist who is initially involved in a specific business to decide how to proceed. Replacement is necessary if the time is not devoted to the case, to the client, the lawyer cannot explain the legislation.
Thus, appealing a court decision in a civil case is a lengthy, multi-stage process. It requires knowledge of the circumstances of the case affecting its legislation, as well as the norms of the process. Even a small mistake can be fatal, making it impossible to reverse a clearly illegal decision.