A claim period is a period of time during which a party to an agreement must contact a counterparty to resolve disputes between them regarding poor performance of the terms of the transaction. Failure to comply with the deadline entails the inability to appeal to an arbitration court for the protection of one’s interests.
Dates in civil law
In addition to the claim periods in civil law, there are many important time periods. Differentiation is carried out according to the following criteria:
- on the grounds: legal, judicial, contractual;
- if possible, change the legal relationship by agreement of the parties: dispositive, peremptory;
- by the degree of certainty: indefinite (depending on the occurrence of an event), certain;
- according to the option of setting the terms: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual;
- on legal consequences: law-changing, law-making, terminating;
- on the content of legal relations: civil law, preventive, guarantee, claim, prescription, mandatory.
The essence of the mandatory claim
The pre-trial stage of the settlement of disputes between the parties to legal relations is mandatory for most arbitration cases. The requirement to comply with the procedure and terms of the claims procedure for dispute settlement was introduced in June 2016 on the basis of Federal Law No. 47.
According to the norms of the fifth part of the fourth article of the Russian agro-industrial complex, for the judicial consideration of a case for the recovery of money under contractual claims or claims due to unjust enrichment are transferred at the end of a thirty-day period from the moment the filing of the claim begins.
The seventh paragraph of Article 132 of the Civil Procedure Code states that a statement must be attached to the statement of claim confirming compliance with the procedure for mandatory pre-trial settlement of a dispute under the Civil Procedure Code, if this is established by law.
The process of preliminary conflict resolution is also established by the provisions of administrative law. According to the norms of the third part of the fourth article of the Russian CAS, in cases of an administrative type a mandatory claim procedure is provided.
Harmonization of key conditions for dispute resolution
The claim procedure in the civil process determines the rules that are established by the practice of legal relations and judicial consideration of disputes. These provisions should be taken into account when drafting pre-trial dispute resolution agreements.
The agreement must fix the deadlines for sending and considering claims, the particulars of the document being drawn up, the process for resolving disagreements, the place for filing claims in case of impossibility to resolve the dispute on a voluntary basis.
When drafting a document, it is necessary to avoid inaccuracies in the wording of the provisions on mandatory pre-trial settlement of conflicts. The fact of an unclear indication of the procedure and deadlines for the consideration of claims may indicate before the court the absence of such provisions in the agreement.
The following clauses of an agreement may be examples of inaccurate formulation of necessary provisions:
- All disagreements and disputes arising between counterparties are resolved through negotiations. The guilty party is obliged to respond to the claim within ten days of receipt. Otherwise, the victim has the right to appeal to the Moscow Arbitration Court (Resolution of the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal No. 09-47896/2015- dated November 24, 2015, case No. 40-67632 / 15).
- Disputes that arise when the terms of the contract are fulfilled are settled in writing by agreement between the parties (Resolution of the Nineteenth Appeal Arbitration Court No. 19AP-5595/2015 of October 28, 2015, case No. A14-422 / 2015).
Conditions specified in the Pre-Trial Dispute Resolution Agreement
In the contract concluded between the contractors, in the section on the claim procedure for resolving disagreements, the following conditions must be indicated:
- Obligation to comply with pre-trial procedure for the settlement of disputes between the parties.
- The procedure for transferring claims to counterparties.
- The deadline for considering a claim under the law and eliminating violations.
Claim can be sent by any of the methods specified in the contract. If the exact options are not indicated, written requirements are sent to the counterparty through a representative against signature, by legal letter with notification and description of the attachment, or by e-mail.
The deadlines for sending and reviewing a written claim are established by contract or law. If the indicated periods are determined on an imperative basis (for example, in the charters of transport), the parties will not be able to change them voluntarily.
If there are no such conditions, counterparties have the right to establish statutes of limitations in compliance with the rules of reasonableness and sufficiency.
Examples of relevant language may include the following:
- In order to resolve conflicts that are related to the violation by one of the parties of their obligations under this agreement, or by other means of the ensuing bonds of the terms of the agreement, a pre-trial mandatory procedure for the settlement of disputes in compliance with the claims deadlines is applied. The counterparty whose rights are violated, before applying to the judicial authority, must present an opponent with a written claim stating the legal requirements. If necessary, papers that confirm the fact of violations, and documents that certify the authority of the representative of the injured party are attached to the written request.
- The parties recognize the legal force of legally significant messages that were received through the exchange of scanned copies via e-mail, and the equality of such written messages and the original documents, which were issued in paper form.
- The parties are allowed to provide copies (scans) of documents and other messages of legal significance if they were sent and received as part of the current contract via e-mail as evidence in resolving conflicts and disputes.
- The parties guarantee the restriction of access to unauthorized persons to their electronic mailboxes. They also confirm that messages sent from their mailing address were not sent by third parties.
- The deadline for sending a response to a claim is ten working (calendar) days from the date of its receipt. If during the specified period the claims of the injured party are not fully satisfied, she has the right to apply to the court with a statement of claim.
- Transfer of claims and other legally significant documents is carried out in one of the following ways:
- a letter to the email inbox. Confirmation of sending a written claim is considered to be a saved copy of the party sending the document (scan in JPEG, PDF, PNG, TIFF format) and a printed paper version of the sent letter;
- valuable mail with an inventory of investments at the place of registration and the actual location of the party - the recipient of the claim;
- by personal transfer to the party of the perpetrator or through his authorized representative against signature (or on the basis of a deed of transfer).
Claim content
The content of the written claims of the injured party is an important element of compliance with the claims.
The first part of Article 16.1 of the federal law No. 40- dated April 25, 2002, which regulates compulsory third party liability insurance of motor vehicle owners, states that a written claim must contain a claim for insurance compensation or compensation for losses incurred in direct form (in kind form). As a justification of the requirements for the document, it is necessary to apply the papers provided for by the CTP insurance rules. The procedure for compulsory pre-trial settlement of a dispute under the Code of Civil Procedure and agro-industrial complex in the legislation is defined only in general terms.
In contrast to the issue of writing claims in respect of transport, in the field of shipping, there are no requirements for the content of such documents (the first part of Article 403 of the Merchant Shipping Code). At the same time, the claim period for carriers is indicated in Article 406 of the Code. According to the provisions of the norm, a written complaint under the contract can be submitted within the limitation period.
The period for filing a claim is set for the parties so that the counterparties can peacefully resolve the differences that have arisen, and the fact of its filing is considered evidence of compliance with the rules of the law on pre-trial settlement of disputes. Therefore, the recommendations developed by judicial and business practice for the preparation of written claims-type documents must be observed.
Details of a written claim
The main provisions that should be reflected in the document are information about the sender of the claim and its recipient, as well as the title of the paper. In the column with information about the parties you must specify the following data:
- full name of the affected party (name, surname, patronymic - for the individual, full and abbreviated name - for the organization);
- address of registration and actual location;
- contact phones for communication.
In the column "heading" should not indicate any other information than the name of the document. All provisions that the claim contains will be recorded in the text of the paper.
The essence of the claim and the claims of the injured party
The text of the document should reflect the summary of the legal relationship and the essence of the violation, because of which there was a need to send a claim to the counterparty. Here, links to the available evidence base are recorded.
When disclosing the essence of the claim, all violations are completely listed, the unfulfilled (or poorly executed) clauses of the contract are indicated. References to evidence are recorded.
If the specified information is not contained in the document, the court has the right to recognize the claim procedure for resolving disagreements as not observed. This is established by the Supreme Court Decree No. 301-ES14-7029 of March 12, 2015.
In the disclosure of the essence of the document, it is recommended to avoid direct quoting of clauses of the contract and the provisions of regulatory legal acts. You just need to fix the details of a document indicating specific articles.
If there is a position of a higher court on the relevant issue, it is best reflected in the claim so that the court can refer to it in the future. Before submitting a document, you should familiarize yourself with this practice.
The operative part reflects the requirements of the affected party, indicating the date for fulfillment of obligations under the contract, the amount claimed and the method for its return (or another option for resolving disagreements).
Failure to comply with the claims procedure or the conditions for the preparation of the document entails the invalidity of the submitted paper and creates the possibility of the court refusing to consider the dispute on the merits.
The petition should indicate the amount of debt, if it is a monetary obligation, and the allowable period of time for its return. A reasonable time limit for considering a claim under the law is one month from the moment it is received.
When specifying the final requirements, you should not fix the requirements for the payment of interest in the exact amount, since this amount will increase every day. Moreover, the law gives the injured party the right to refuse to recover the penalty or limit it to a certain date.
If the guilty party does not fulfill the conditions for the timely fulfillment of the requirements of the claim and the case is brought to court, the judge often calculates the total amount of fines and penalties based on the consideration of the claim.
Final Claims
The term for consideration of a claim for repayment of a debt or other option for the performance of obligations under a contract is indicated in the petition. If, according to the norms of legislation, the period for the implementation of the requirements of the affected party is determined, the parties are not entitled to change it.
After specifying the period of the claim procedure for the settlement of disputes, it is necessary to fix the positive sides of the conflict resolution in pre-trial order. Often, the advantages of considering a case without bringing to action are as follows:
- No increase in interest.
- Time saving.
- No need to pay state fees.
In conclusion, the list of documents attached to the claim as evidence is indicated, and the applicant or his representative is signed.
Consequences of a civil and procedural nature
The consequences of compliance or non-compliance with the claim period under the Civil Code of the Russian Federation do not differ much from the consequences under the Arbitration Procedure Code. Often, the occurrence of obligations due to non-fulfillment of the terms of the agreement coincides with the terms established by the provisions of the document.
Under civil law, the consequences may be:
- the obligation must be fulfilled within seven days from the date of presentation of claims by the injured party, if the period of its execution is not specified in the contract and there are no conditions allowing it to be determined (second paragraph of Article 314 of the Civil Code);
- if a party unjustifiably acquired or saved other people's money, interest under Article 395 of the Russian Civil Code will be charged from the date the party receives the claim.
Features of the course of the statute of limitations
When a written request is submitted, the statute of limitations shall be suspended for the commencement of the claim period. This is established by the third paragraph of Article 202 of the Civil Code. If the deadline for submitting a pre-trial written request is not specified, this period of time is determined by the duration of six months. This provision is enshrined in the sixteenth paragraph of Decree No. 43, issued by the Plenum of the Supreme Court on September 29, 2015.
If the debtor recognized the claimant's requirements as lawful and justified or responded within a specified time to the claim, the statute of limitations of the RF Civil Code is interrupted (article 203, twentieth paragraph of the above Resolution). In this case, if the guilty party ceases to fulfill the obligation, the period begins anew.
The Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted on January 21, 2016 Decree No. 1, which discloses certain issues of the application of legislation on the payment of costs related to judicial review of civil cases.
According to the norms of the fourth paragraph of this normative legal act, the costs of fulfilling the requirements of civil law on compliance with the pre-trial procedure for the settlement of disputes between the parties to the contract that the sender of the claim incurred, are brought to the defendant when the case is brought to court.
In order for the court to force the defendant to pay postal and other expenses, the plaintiff must prove that without these expenses he would not be able to observe the pre-trial procedure for resolving the existing disagreements.
Compliance with the claims dispute resolution procedure is a mandatory element of a court hearing. Failure to submit a written complaint in most cases entails the impossibility of submitting a claim to a court or leaving the application without consideration on the merits due to a violation of the law.