The application for the recovery of court costs is an integral part of the process in court aimed at recovering the money spent. Both the winning party and third parties whose interests were not directly affected have this right.
Cost system, source of occurrence
The principle of accessibility of justice does not mean that the state will fully pay the court. Process participants bear their share of the costs. This applies primarily to money spent on representatives, with the exception of cases where assistance is provided by lawyers at the expense of the budget. The parties shall pay for the work of experts, services of other organizations, where necessary to resolve the dispute.
An application for the recovery of legal expenses for a representative is most often found.
Procedural codes define the categories of costs, the grounds for their occurrence and the collection procedure.
Who is entitled to submit an application
The right to claim compensation:
- plaintiff or defendant;
- third parties with independent claims and without them (in civil and arbitration proceedings);
- interested parties (according to CAS).
The collection is primarily carried out in favor of the persons who won the process. Costs are allocated by decision or ruling of the court.
A person who is not the plaintiff or defendant has the right to intervene in the case when his interests are affected. The reason for joining is the petition of the parties or the decision of the judge. A third party has the right to declare this.
She often becomes aware of the case after a decision by the court of first instance. In this case, only the appeal to the appeal or other higher authority remains. Where exactly is determined by the stage of the proceedings (cassation or supervisory). Applicants receive a number of rights, in particular to a claim for judicial costs.
The state has its interest when legal costs are paid at its expense. The losing side then owes to the treasury. The official explanations suggest that the costs of litigation incurred by the budget, the judge has the right to divide equally between the plaintiff and the defendant, with good reason.
What expenses are we talking about
The usual list of expenses includes money spent on:
- payment of state duty;
- lawyers or representatives;
- experts who conducted the research and gave an opinion;
- specialists who provided technical services;
- translator
- travel and accommodation of witnesses;
- postal or courier services;
- loss of time (for example, instead of going to work, a person appeared in court).
In the latest clarifications of the Supreme Court, this list is not considered exhaustive. A claim for judicial costs may affect an unlimited list of actions.
For example, expenses for collecting evidence: legalization of foreign documents, conducting an assessment report, providing evidence to a notary (before opening a case in court). They are considered expenses subject to their acceptance by the court as legal.
Payment of a notarized power of attorney is reimbursed if it was issued for representation in a particular case or specific meeting.
The consideration of the case in higher instances gives the right to declare in addition about the costs incurred in the process of appeal, cassation and supervisory proceedings in the case.
That cost may be the subject of a separate complaint, or combined with other requirements.
What they refuse to recognize as legal costs
Why is it useless to file a claim for court costs? Costs of pre-trial procedures (mediation process, administrative appeals of officials, etc.) when they were not mandatory.
If the law or the contract requires preliminary administrative appeal or mediation, the application for the recovery of legal costs will be regarded as reasonable.
Cost sharing principles
The judge may satisfy the claim in whole or in part. In the second option, the losing party pays a proportionate share of the costs of the claimed claim price. The presence of several persons also leads to a proportional distribution of costs between them from the amount awarded or the amount of claims deemed reasonable. In this case, a statement of claim for the recovery of legal expenses is presented to several organizations or citizens.
As for the third party, its share of expenses is determined from the degree of influence on the decision on the case. It doesn’t matter if they voluntarily became participants in the process, or they were brought in by a court.
Explicitly high claims may lead to a refusal to recover costs to the winning party and to an obligation to reimburse expenses to the losing party. Thus, the court punishes the second party because of unfair behavior and the use of their rights to the detriment of the interests of justice.
In a case with a counterclaim, the judge has the right to offset the costs if there is a partial consent of the court with both statements. The parties are entitled to resolve the issue in a settlement.
How is the issue of expenses resolved
The application to the court, the recovery of court costs are considered by the court before a decision on the claim and after. After the final decision on the case is made, a meeting on the issue of expenses is initiated either by one of the parties or by a judge. Participants are called by summons. The procedure is referred to as an additional decision.
A discussion is being held, everyone who appears expresses their opinion. The law gives the right to make a decision without the appearance of called persons, if there is evidence of their receipt of summons.
An objection to the application for the recovery of legal costs is made out either in writing or orally. The first method gives you the opportunity to express your opinion without appearing in person.
The judge makes a decision in the form of a ruling; 15 days are given for appeal. The issue may also be raised in complaints to higher authorities. In the first instance, an application for expenses is filed as part of the appeal deadline.
Reasonable principle for reimbursement
No one agrees to blindly recover the declared amount at the request of one of the parties.
The law obliges expenses to be documented. For example, payment for the services of a lawyer is confirmed by an agreement, a receipt for payment, an act of completion.
Reasonableness makes it necessary to assess the property status of one of the parties, the real amount of work done by the representative, the average assessment of services in the region for similar services in the region.
In general, the topic of costs is full of nuances. And ignoring them will only lead to additional financial losses. A sample application for the recovery of court costs must be selected by type of production (civil or arbitration, etc.).