Reasons for the delay in the start of the trial
There are two main reasons why the court hearing does not start on time.
The judge is busy at another hearing. As you know, each judge considers several cases during the day, and sometimes it is not possible to calculate the duration of each trial. If you look at the schedules of court hearings in the courts, you can see that up to 20 cases can be assigned to the magistrate’s schedule per day. The number of cases considered by federal courts of general jurisdiction is somewhat smaller; judges of city and district courts consider approximately 10 cases per day. On the one hand, it may seem that they are less busy than magistrates, but it is worth considering that the category of cases under their jurisdiction is somewhat more complex and more active persons and specialists are involved in them. Arbitration court judges have the fewest trials scheduled per day, but each of the 3-4 cases scheduled for consideration may require many hours of proceedings. This is due to the fact that the consideration of an arbitration dispute is inextricably linked with the study of a large amount of financial documentation; at some court hearings, the participants in the process provide the court with financial documents, contracts, and estimates for several years.
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The more documents a judge needs to examine during a court hearing or interview participants in the process, the more time he needs to consider all the circumstances of the case. Before the hearing begins, the judge cannot determine exactly how long it will take him to study the documents, since the volume of documentation provided by the parties is not always known in advance. The number of witnesses declared by the parties at a court hearing is also not known to the court in advance; this also affects the fact that judges cannot accurately determine the time required to interview them.
It is precisely because judges are forced to spend more time considering some cases than they originally planned that the next court hearing cannot begin on time, and its participants are forced to spend extra time in the court corridors.
Participants in the process are late to the court hearing. Very often, the judge does not start the court hearing at the appointed time due to the lateness of the participants in the trial.
These delays can often be due to the fact that the party's representative was late at the previous meeting. Usually, judges decide to slightly delay the start of the court hearing, wait for all the persons summoned to the courtroom, otherwise they will have to postpone the consideration of the case and repeat the summons of the parties. In some cases, the trial cannot begin until, for example, the defendant's lawyer is present. In the absence of a lawyer, the defendant’s right to defense is violated, so the court and all participants in the process must wait extra time.
Legislative regulation
The preparatory stage of the trial poses serious tasks for the judge and the parties, by solving which they will be able to ensure that the trial is conducted in full compliance with the law.
The procedure for preparing for trial is mentioned directly in Art. 150 GPC. Its provisions are closely related to other points of the law, which must be taken into account in order to obtain a correct understanding.
To help judges, a resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation was issued on the preparation procedure. Nevertheless, each judge conducts it, guided by his own understanding and experience. Here, as nowhere else, theory and practice of applying the law are closely mixed.
Is it possible not to wait for the court hearing?
Participants in legal proceedings have the right to independently decide to wait for the start of the court hearing or leave the court building. This right is absent only from defendants in criminal cases.
However, when making such a decision, the parties to the case must understand what consequences their withdrawal from court may entail. In the event that the applicant (plaintiff) did not wait for the hearing to begin on his appeal, the court will consider the case without taking into account the evidence and explanations that he could provide as evidence of his position. The same applies to consideration of the case in the absence of the defendant. Moreover, it is worth noting that when appealing a court decision, the party’s arguments that it was made in its absence will be recognized by the appellate authority as not significant, since the party itself decided not to be present at the consideration of the case.
The most common cases are when the witnesses or specialists . They are not interested in wasting extra time waiting for the case to begin, since they have no direct benefit in making a decision in favor of one party or another. The absence of these actors when considering the issue on the merits may cause the court hearing to be postponed or the decision to be canceled.
The lawyers involved in the trial may find themselves in the most difficult situation if the start of the trial is delayed. They act within the framework of the agreement with the client and refusal to participate in the process violates the terms of this agreement and violates the rights of the client. In addition, refusal to participate in the case goes against the code of professional ethics of a lawyer. For such violations, he may be subject to disciplinary action, including deprivation of his status as a lawyer. It is also worth taking into account that on the same day a lawyer may be involved not only in a court hearing, but also in other procedural actions (for example, interrogations), thus, the delay of one court hearing may lead to the postponement of other cases.
If it was decided to leave the court before the hearing of the case , then the following measures should be taken:
- write or orally (audio recording) contact the court secretary, assistant judge, judge, court chairman to find out the reasons for the delay and inform them of your departure;
- submit a written application to the court office with a receipt stamp, indicating the time of arrival, as well as the time and reason for departure. This kind of statement cannot guarantee a participant in the process that the court hearing will be postponed.
There are cases when a participant in a trial does not have the opportunity to spend additional time and wait for the start of the court hearing, but there is a need to provide documents without which consideration of the case is not possible. In this case, all necessary documents, material evidence and other materials required by the court can be transferred through the court office. In this case, the documents are accompanied by a covering letter indicating the court, the number of the case under consideration, the name of the judge, as well as a list of these documents.
Further actions of the court
All actions that take place in the judge's office are part of the preliminary hearing. The judge announces the beginning of the meeting, introduces himself and the secretary taking the minutes. Rights and responsibilities are explained (this is done automatically). The right to challenge the judge or secretary must be communicated.
Clarification of the requirements of the claim is necessary if it is incomplete. For example, the exact amount that the plaintiff is seeking is not stated, or one of the demands has not been presented, without which the court’s decision is meaningless. For example, the plaintiff asks to recognize the rights to a property without canceling the rights of the previous owner in the register of rights.
The judge may ask clarifying questions about the circumstances of the claim filed.
Questions may be asked of the defendant, in particular whether he will provide a written objection to the claim.
Where to complain if the court hearing did not start on time?
If the delay in the start of the consideration of the case has resulted in adverse consequences for the parties and other participants in the process, a complaint against the actions of the judge may be filed with the chairman of the court or with the qualification board of judges. This complaint must be accompanied by confirmation of what time the person arrived at the courthouse (this information is recorded upon entry in the bailiff's register), data on the actual start time of the hearing, they are reflected in the minutes of the court hearing.
If the judge is found guilty, he will be subject to disciplinary action. But most often this does not happen and such complaints are rejected with reference to the volume and complexity of the disputes resolved by this judge.
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In addition to the requirement to hold the judge accountable, a person participating in the case and suffering losses as a result of the court hearing not starting on time has the right to demand compensation in court; if the claims are recognized as justified, then the losses will be compensated.
Participation of other persons
There is the concept of improper claimant when claims are made against the wrong person, such as the Social Security Administration instead of the pension fund office. The judge has the right to suggest replacing the defendant. This cannot be done without the consent of the plaintiff, and the judge is then obliged to continue the consideration of the case. Most often, refusal to replace the plaintiff ends in a loss in court. However, the right to file a claim against the proper plaintiff remains.
Third parties are involved on their own initiative or at the suggestion of the court. By the way, can he attract them only of his own free will, Art. 150 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation is not reported, thus leaving a gap in the law.
Judges solve the problem as follows: since a person must take part, a set of documents must also be provided for him. If it is not enough, the claim remains without progress and the plaintiff is sent instructions on the need to correct the text of the claim and prepare a set of documents for other persons.
Conclusions:
- Although the court hearing should begin at the appointed time so that there is no violation of procedural law, in practice there are almost always delays.
- In this case, it is better for the participants in the process not to leave the courthouse, but to wait for the start of the consideration of the case as long as necessary, since the outcome of the case may depend on this.
- If you decide to leave the court before the hearing of the case, you must inform about this.
- You can complain about the delay of a court hearing to the chairman of the court or to the qualification board of judges.
- Lawyers agree that filing complaints against a particular judge is most often inappropriate and pointless, since the delay is caused by abuse of time by representatives of the parties in a previous case. And the complaint itself creates a negative attitude of the judge himself.
Appointment of examination
The examination is appointed either at the initiative of the parties or by court decision. Usually this issue is resolved at the stage of preparing a civil case for trial.
The need for expert research may arise later, when the dispute has already been sorted out on its merits. For example, a new document is provided and the other party claims that it is fake, and the judge needs to find out with the help of an expert whether it is genuine or not.
It is decided which expert or institution to entrust with conducting the examination, who will pay for it, and what questions to pose to the expert.
Calculus
In accordance with Art. 107 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, procedural actions are carried out within the time limits specified by law. Otherwise, compliance with the principle of reasonableness is required.
Time frames can be measured in years, days, months. If we are talking about the daily component, it does not include weekends. Exceptions are situations directly indicated in the Code of Civil Procedure, where calendar days are indicated - Art. 133, 128 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation and others.
The period begins to run on the day following the event. For example, a statement was received by mail to leave the claim pending. Then the time to correct the deficiencies is counted from the next date.
Ending
The rules are given in Article 108 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. They can be illustrated by the following examples. The appeal is filed on the last day of the expiration of a month from the date of production of the reasoned decision. The complaint may be sent to the office before the end of the working day in court. It is possible to send documents by mail before the end of the day, of course, during office hours.
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It happens that the expiration of deadlines coincides with a weekend or holiday. Then it is permissible to perform the required actions on the next working day.
In a situation with deadlines for consideration of a case, their completion is associated with the adoption of a decision. The same applies to rulings on termination of proceedings and leaving a statement of claim without consideration.
Consequences of missing
They are outlined in Art. 109 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Filing a claim after the limitation period has expired is grounds for leaving claims unsatisfied. But if the defendant does not make a statement on the application of the deadlines, the court will make a decision on the merits of the dispute.
When the established time for filing a complaint against the decision or ruling has expired, the higher authority refuses to accept it. An exception is a petition to renew procedural deadlines.
As a rule, it is attached to the appeal or cassation. Documentary evidence of the reasons for absence will also be required.
Features of calculating procedural deadlines
Much depends on the correct use of time intervals in civil proceedings. When participants in the process make errors in calculations, this significantly complicates their rights.
Courts also have problems with deadlines. Then there is a reason to talk about a violation of procedural law.
Finally, if reasonable deadlines for legal proceedings are unreasonably violated, the parties have the right to count on monetary compensation. However, this is a topic for another conversation. Below it is appropriate to conduct a brief analysis of the provisions of Chapter 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
