How to correctly draw up and where to file an appeal against a court decision?

What is an appeal against a court decision?

An appeal is a complaint against a court decision that has not entered into legal force. This is the first stage of checking the legality and validity of a court decision. Moreover, it is the most effective, since only at this stage is the case fully verified. Such persons will have to substantiate this fact in detail in the text of the complaint (Article 320 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation)

An appeal against a court decision must be filed within a certain time frame and in compliance with the form and content. Any participant in the case can do this. And sometimes other persons (when their rights and legitimate interests are violated by a decision). Such a complaint can be filed against decisions of justices of the peace, district and city courts, regional, regional and republican courts, as well as decisions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

The appeal is considered by a higher authority - the court of appeal. The list of appellate courts is given in Article 320.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Based on the results of consideration of the complaint, the decision may be cancelled, changed or left unchanged. The appeal also has other powers, for example, to overturn the decision and terminate the consideration of the case. The full list of powers of the appellate instance is listed in Article 328 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

The result of the consideration of the complaint is formalized by an appeal ruling. The issuance of an appeal ruling means the entry into force of a court decision.

The decision of the district court can be appealed to a higher court within 1 month from the date of its adoption. The period begins to run from the moment the solution is produced in full. Usually, at a court hearing, the judge announces only the operative part of the decision, postponing the preparation of the full decision for up to 5 days. The judge announces the date of production of the decision in final form when announcing the decision at the end of the court hearing. If this is not done, you need to clarify the date of production of the reasoned decision in court when receiving a copy of the decision.

How to file an appeal against a district court decision

An appeal is drawn up after receiving and studying a reasoned court decision. This will allow you to understand the logic of the court when making a decision, evaluate its arguments and criticize the circumstances established by the court. Without a reasoned decision, the appeal will be superficial and meaningless.

Sometimes, if the court delays making a reasoned decision, a short appeal is drawn up. It must formally take into account all the requirements for the appeal. This includes payment of state fees and an indication of violations. But it may not contain the full justification of the applicant's position. And most likely it won't. Such a complaint is drawn up in order not to miss the deadline for appeal. Then it will be possible to draw up an additional appeal with a full substantiation of the position of the complainant.

The content of the appeal must comply with the requirements of Article 322 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

Heading of the appeal against the court decision

The appeal must indicate the name of the court where it is filed. The name of the court for appeal is usually indicated at the end of the court decision, in the following form: “The court decision can be appealed within 1 month to ..... court.” If this name is not indicated, you can always find it yourself. Thus, decisions of district and city courts are appealed to regional, regional, and republican courts. For example, in the Moscow region, appeals are filed with the Moscow Regional Court, in the Krasnodar Territory - with the Krasnodar Regional Court, and in Tatarstan - with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan. In St. Petersburg and Moscow, appeals against decisions of district courts are filed with the St. Petersburg or Moscow City Court, respectively.

The appeal contains the full details of the applicant. This is the last name, first name and patronymic without abbreviations, as indicated in the passport. This is the address of the applicant’s place of residence or location; to this address the court will send notice of the time and place of consideration of the case in the appellate instance.

The complaint must indicate its name - Appeal against a court decision , so that the court has no reason to mistake it for another document. The court decision that is being appealed must be indicated. The name of the court decision must contain the date the decision was made, the name of the court that issued it, the details of the plaintiff and defendant, and the essence of the plaintiff’s claims. The name of the solution is usually written in the installation part of the solution before the words: “Installed”. For example, the decision of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow dated June 17, 2016 in a civil case on the claim of Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov against Petrov Petrovich for the collection of debt under a loan agreement.

Contents of the descriptive part of the appeal

In the descriptive part of the appeal, it is necessary to provide the reasons why the applicant does not agree with the court’s conclusions and considers the court’s conclusions to be incorrect.

When writing a narrative, you can simply describe why the court decision seems to the applicant to be illegal and subject to change or cancellation. But it is better to take as a basis the grounds for canceling the decision listed in Article 330 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Having found suitable grounds for cancellation, you can fill them with content, taking into account the specific circumstances of the civil case.

There is no need to reiterate the court's decision in the appeal. It is already in the case, the judges on appeal will definitely familiarize themselves with it; citing excerpts and quotes from the decision will simply clutter the text of the complaint and make it difficult to understand. Try to make the descriptive part brief, in essence, so that it is clear what points the court of second instance should pay attention to, what exactly the applicant does not agree with. From the practice of lawyers, a good content of an appeal would be a text of no more than 3 pages of printed text.

Requirements in the appeal

After the grounds for cancellation, the text of the appeal must contain the requirements stated by the submitter of this complaint. Requirements cannot be arbitrary. They must comply with the powers of the appellate court (Article 328 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation). It is better to make your requirements completely identical to those specified in the law.

Thus, in an appeal the following demands can be made:

• cancel/change the decision of the court of first instance completely and make a new decision on the case;
• change/cancel the decision of the court of first instance in part and make a new decision in the case;
• leave the court decision in force, the appeal is not satisfied
• cancel the decision of the court of first instance in whole or in part and terminate the proceedings;
• cancel the decision of the court of first instance in whole or in part and leave the application without consideration in whole or in part
• leave the appeal without consideration when the deadline has been missed and the applicant has not applied for restoration of the deadline (more details below).

When a partial cancellation or change of a court decision is required, the appeal indicates in which part the applicant requests to cancel or change the court decision.

The above requirements comply with the powers of the court of second instance. Other demands cannot be made; this will contradict the requirements of the procedural law and they cannot be considered by the appellate court.

The requirements in the appeal are indicated after the words: “I ask.” It is better if several requirements are numbered and divided among themselves. If a new decision is required in the case, then the applicant must indicate in the requirements how it should sound. For example: “Make a new decision on the case, in which the plaintiff’s claims are completely rejected.”

Article 260 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. Form and content of the appeal (current version)

1. An appeal can be filed in two forms: written and electronic. The written form of the appeal involves a written statement of the content of the appeal on paper. The electronic form of the appeal involves filling out a form posted on the official website of the arbitration court on the Internet.

2. The appeal must indicate:

1) the name of the arbitration court to which the appeal is filed - the name of one of the appellate courts operating in the Russian Federation must be indicated (see commentary to Article 258 of the APC);

2) the name of the person filing the complaint and other persons participating in the case - the name is indicated in accordance with the constituent documents of the legal entity and the data contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities; for citizens, the last name, first name, and patronymic are indicated according to identity documents;

3) the name of the arbitration court that adopted the appealed decision, the case number and the date of the decision, the subject of the dispute - the data is indicated in accordance with the text of the appealed judicial act;

4) the requirements of the person filing the complaint and the grounds on which the person filing the complaint is appealing the decision, with reference to laws, other regulatory legal acts, the circumstances of the case and the evidence available in the case - the requirements of the person and the grounds for such claims are indicated in conjunction with provisions of Art. Art. 269 ​​and 270 APC; It is advisable to present the circumstances of the case and the evidence available in the case with reference to the sheet numbers of the case, for which it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the case materials in advance, however, from the point of view of the law, a page-by-page reference is not required;

5) a list of documents attached to the appeal - the documents attached to the appeal must be named and listed individually; For documents, it is necessary to indicate their identifying details (date, number).

The appeal may contain telephone numbers and other information necessary for consideration of the case, as well as existing petitions. In particular, a petition to restore the missed deadline for filing an appeal is submitted simultaneously with the appeal and can be presented in the form of a separate document or contained in the text of the appeal.

An appeal can be filed against one judicial act, or against several judicial acts adopted in one case, each of which can be appealed separately, which in itself does not contradict the rules of Chapter. 34 APK. One complaint may contain demands for appeal, in particular, decisions and rulings to return the counterclaim or rulings to leave the counterclaim without consideration. In this case, the appellate court issues one ruling on acceptance of the appeal for proceedings. Filing one appeal against judicial acts adopted in the consideration of different cases is not allowed.

3. The person filing an appeal is obliged to send to other persons participating in the case copies of the appeal and the documents attached to it that they do not have, by registered mail with return receipt requested, or hand them over to other persons participating in the case or their representatives personally against signature. This rule is aimed at ensuring the opportunity for other persons to prepare a response to the appeal in a timely manner.

4. As a general rule, the following must be attached to the appeal:

1) a copy of the contested decision - required by law, however, as stated in paragraph 21 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated May 28, 2009 N 36, failure to attach a copy of the contested judicial act does not prevent the consideration of the appeal, since this judicial act is in the case materials, and This means that in the absence of a copy of the contested judicial act, the appellate court must accept the appeal for proceedings;

2) documents confirming the payment of the state duty in the established manner and amount or the right to receive a benefit in the payment of the state duty, or a request for a deferment, payment by installments or a reduction in the amount of the state duty - in case of payment of the state duty from a bank account, a payment order is attached , where in the column “Written off from the payer’s account” there is a date of write-off and the payment order has a mark of the responsible bank employee; when paying the state duty without using an account, attach a receipt issued by the bank for payment of the state duty; in other cases, documents are attached confirming the right to receive benefits in the payment of state duty, or a request for a deferment, payment by installments or a reduction in the amount of state duty;

3) a document confirming the sending or delivery to other persons participating in the case of copies of the appeal and documents that they do not have - a postal receipt for sending a registered mail item (registered letter with return receipt requested) or other documents;

4) a power of attorney or other document confirming the authority to sign an appeal - the right to sign an appeal is a special power of the representative and must be expressly stipulated in the power of attorney according to the rules of Part 2 of Art. 62 agro-industrial complex; the head of the organization, acting on behalf of a legal entity without a power of attorney, who signed the appeal, attaches documents confirming the appointment (election) to the specified position.

The appeal against the arbitration court's ruling to return the statement of claim must also be accompanied by the returned statement of claim and the documents attached to it when submitted to the arbitration court. Documents attached to the appeal may be submitted to the arbitration court in electronic form. From 01/01/2017, the Procedure for submitting documents to the arbitration courts of the Russian Federation in electronic form, including in the form of an electronic document, approved by Order of the Judicial Department under the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated December 28, 2016 N 252, is applied.

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Bulletin of acts on the judicial system. 2021. N 2.

Comment source:

Ed. V.V. Yarkova “COMMENTARY ON THE ARBITRATION PROCEDURE CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION” (ARTICLE-BY-ARTICLE)”

ABSALYAMOV A.V., ABUSHENKO D.B., BESSONOVA A.I., BURACHEVSKY D.V., GREBENTSOV A.M., DEGTYAREV S.L., DOLGANICHEV V.V., ZAGAINOVA S.K., KUZNETSOV E. N.N., LAZAREV S.V., PLESHANOV A.G., RAZDKONOV E.S., RENZ I.G., RESHETNIKOVA I.V., SKURATOVSKY M.L., SOLOMEINA E.A., SPITSIN I.N. ., TARASOV I.N., TIMOFEEV Y.A., KHAZANOV S.D., KHALATOV S.A., CHUDINOVSKAYA N.A., YARKOV V.V., 2021. Publishing house "STATUT"

Documents attached to the appeal under the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation

After the claims of the complainant, it is necessary to list all the documents attached to the appeal. A copy of the complaint must be sent to the participants in the case in advance. And evidence of the direction (delivery) should be attached to the complaint. If it is planned to present additional evidence along with the complaint, you need to draw up (either separately or in the text of the document) a statement on the inclusion of evidence in the appeal.

Also attached to the appeal is a receipt for payment of the state fee (if the applicant is not exempt from paying it).

At the end of the appeal, the applicant must put his signature and the date of the appeal. The date of compilation does not have to coincide with the date of filing.

Filing an appeal against a court decision in a civil case

An appeal against a court decision is filed through the court that heard the civil case. It is this court that decides on the possibility of accepting the complaint and carries out the actions provided for in Article 325 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. After which it sends the complaint along with the civil case to the appellate court. If a complaint is filed with the court of appeal, it will still be returned to the court that heard the civil case to decide whether to accept it.

The deadline for filing an appeal, as already noted, is 1 month from the date of issuing a reasoned court decision. The missed deadline for appeal can be restored at the request of the applicant, which is submitted simultaneously with the complaint.

After filing an appeal, you must wait until it is accepted. If the appeal is accepted, the complainant will receive notice of the appointment of the case to the appellate authority. If a complaint is left without action, its shortcomings must be corrected. And if the complaint is returned, you need to look at the reasons for the return. And either restore the deadline or submit it to another authority. The option of appealing the court’s ruling to return the complaint (private complaint) is not excluded.

On what grounds can you file an appeal?

To successfully appeal a court verdict, you must have compelling reasons, otherwise filing an appeal with the arbitration court will have no prospects. The list of such circumstances is clearly defined by law and includes:

• new circumstances of the dispute - if, since the decision of the court of first instance, details have appeared in the case that may affect the position of the parties and the verdict (for example, evidence of failure of one of the parties to fulfill its obligations under the contract), this gives the right to file an appeal;
• ignoring part of the arguments - sometimes it happens that the arbitration court does not take into account some facts, circumstances of the dispute, evidence of the correctness of one of the parties for one reason or another (for example, the evidence was not prepared properly). If unaccounted arguments, in your opinion, may affect the outcome of the dispute, it makes sense to file an appeal;
• unlawful (unjust) decision made in the case - if you have reason to believe that the court, when making a verdict, violated the law, incorrectly interpreted the legislation, there was a reasoned decision, etc., you can safely prepare an appeal.

Of course, no one can prohibit filing an appeal without one of the above grounds, but the chances of a positive decision in this case are greatly reduced.

Complaint to the Court of Appeal - additional materials

In addition to the complaint itself and knowledge of its preparation and submission, the applicant will need additional information on the consideration of the complaint in the appellate court.
Please note the specifics of filing an appeal with magistrates. For more information about the appeal: Appeal.
Consideration of appeals: Procedure for appeal.

About a sample objection to an appeal: Objections to an appeal.

Download a sample complaint against a decision of a magistrate: Appeal against a decision of a magistrate.

Theory and practice of appealing against a ruling of the first instance: Private complaint against a court ruling.

About appealing appellate rulings: Cassation appeal in a civil case.

Deadline for filing a complaint with the arbitration court

When filing a complaint, you must adhere to the established deadlines. The main rule in this case: the decision can be challenged before it comes into force. Usually this period is 30 days from the date of the verdict (more precisely, from the next day after publication of the full text of the decision). However, there are exceptions to the general rule: if the case concerns the imposition of a fine, other sanctions or penalties, as well as bankruptcy proceedings, the appeal period is reduced to 10 days. It should also be taken into account that we are talking about calendar days, not working days.

Conclusion

If you do not agree with the decision of the arbitration court, you can appeal it. It should be taken into account that there is a certain procedure for considering an appeal in an arbitration court, which includes searching for arguments, correctly drafting the text of the complaint, preparing a package of documents and other stages. To do everything in accordance with the law, it is recommended to seek the help of a lawyer.