Petition to postpone the court hearing sample

Grounds for adjourning a meeting

The legal grounds for postponing a court hearing are established in Article 169 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. The consequences of failure to appear in court are specified in Article 167 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. These are the rules that should be followed when preparing a motion to postpone a court hearing in a civil case.

Postponement of a court hearing in case of failure to appear

The duty of the court is to notify the participants in the case, but the court will not ensure their appearance. He will only establish the reasons for non-appearance. And on this basis he will decide on the possibility or impossibility of considering the case in the absence of these persons.

Thus, if a citizen wishes to participate in a case and is interested in the results of its consideration, he must inform the court about the reasons for his absence. If there are good reasons, he has the right to file a motion to postpone the consideration of the case.

Valid reasons for failure to appear at a court hearing:

illness, hospitalization, or health condition that objectively prevents participation in a court hearing;
business trip, urgent call to work on an urgent matter requiring the personal presence of a person participating in the case;
emergency circumstances with the personal participation of a person involved in a civil case (fire, crime, road accident, accident);
the need for urgent participation in caring for a family member under care (child, disabled person, elderly parent).

These are the main reasons that can be cited as grounds for postponing a court hearing. Their list is not closed, other reasons are possible, the degree of their respect in any case will be assessed only by the court hearing the case.

Other reasons

A court hearing may be postponed not only if one of the participants in the case fails to appear. Even with 100% attendance, the court may postpone the hearing for reasons established by law.

Reasons for postponing the court hearing under the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation:

filing a counterclaim;
the need for additional evidence;
attracting new persons to participate in the case (involving a co-defendant, third parties);
changes in claims;
technical problems, incl. with a video conferencing system;
failure of the representative to appear for a valid reason (the petition is prepared by the principal);
application of mediation procedures, judicial reconciliation, etc.

If these reasons exist, the court almost always postpones the consideration of the case. However, it should be borne in mind that the listed reasons are not indisputable grounds for deposition. The court may, after listening to the opinions of the parties and making sure that the presence of such reasons will not interfere with the objective consideration of the case at a given court hearing, decide to continue the trial.

Postponement of trial in arbitration court

The postponement of a hearing in an arbitration court is regulated by Art. 158 Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The grounds are:

untimely notification or failure to notify one of the parties about the time of consideration of the case;
valid reasons for the failure of the plaintiff or defendant to appear;
technical problems, if the consideration of the circumstances of the case requires the creation of special conditions.

It is possible to postpone the deadline for the provision of evidence by one of the parties if it was previously absent from the case. It is possible to postpone the consideration of a case due to illness of one of the parties. If the transfer is carried out due to poor health of the plaintiff or defendant, it is necessary to write a petition addressed to the official. You will need to attach a certificate from a medical institution to your application.

The basis for postponing the hearing is a counterclaim. The trial may be postponed in case of illness of the judge by decision of the chairman of the court or his deputy, but not more than for 10 days.

The court may postpone the hearing when the parties contact a judicial conciliator or mediator to conclude a settlement agreement. The duration of the conciliation procedure should not exceed 2 months (Law No. 193-FZ of July 27, 2010). The consideration of a case, the essence of which is the bankruptcy of the defendant, may be postponed if he indicates voluntary repayment of debt in his motives.

How to file a motion to adjourn a civil case

When drawing up a petition to postpone a court hearing, you should be guided by the general rules for preparing documents in court. Additionally, this document indicates the reasons for postponing the case.

Contents of the request for adjournment:

name of the court in which the case is heard
Full names, addresses and telephone numbers of the participants in the case
name of the application - Petition to postpone the court hearing or Petition to postpone the civil case
reasons for inability to appear at the court hearing at the time appointed by the court
request to postpone the consideration of the case
date and signature
evidence of valid reasons for failure to appear in court

How to correctly compose a sample form and an example of a finished document

The document is prepared in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, namely:

Art. 167 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation - determines the consequences of failure to appear by participants in the case
Art. 169 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation - regulates the algorithm for transferring the case and notifying the parties of the new date of the hearing

In practice, courts are loyal to petitions drawn up without reference to the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. The main thing in the text of the document is that there is a detailed description of the circumstances for postponing the meeting, supported by evidence. Corrections and errors are not allowed when filling out the form. Information is presented in the most complete form.

The document consists of:

Hats. In the upper right corner: the applicant’s personal data, the name of the judicial authority, the case number and the name of the application being submitted.
Main part. The descriptive field contains: personal data of the plaintiff and defendant, case number, indication of the court and the essence of the petition. Then the reasons for adjourning the meeting are described in detail and evidence of the veracity of the facts is attached. A link to Art. 167 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation and the term is indicated.

Filing a petition to the court

It is better to prepare a request for adjournment in advance, taking into account the possibility of it being received by the court before the hearing of the case. The petition must be accompanied by documents confirming the justification for failure to appear and/or inability to participate in the court hearing.

The petition must be submitted in writing. If the situation arose directly on the day of the court hearing, you can file a petition orally by telephone. Or send it through a proxy without attaching written evidence. In this case, you need to indicate to the court how it can check the validity of the reasons for failure to appear (indicate the hospital number and full name of the doctor, details of the police officer, etc.). Then you will need to submit written documents at the next court hearing.

In some cases, instead of a petition to postpone the court hearing, it will be correct to draw up a petition to postpone the consideration of the case. This is done in cases where the court is asked to change the date or time of the court hearing.

Note! Request to postpone the hearing

If there are reasons for adjournment established in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, it is not necessary to prepare a separate written request for adjournment. You can reflect the request for postponement in the document itself or state it orally, at the stage of resolving this issue in court.

Grounds for postponing a court hearing

As mentioned above, to postpone a meeting at the request of one of the parties there must be compelling reasons: business trip, illness. In each case, the issue of respect is considered individually. If you have any difficulties, contact the site’s lawyer on duty; perhaps legal assistance in describing the reasons and presenting evidence will be relevant for you.

The request for transfer must be made in writing and submitted to the court reception. Obvious cases of postponing a court hearing (adjournment) are the following procedural actions:

receipt of a counterclaim
petition for evidence
petition to call witnesses
application for the involvement of a third party

For example, in the process of eviction from social housing, the defendant insists that payments were made on time. And he asks the plaintiff to provide an extract from his personal account, which was not in the case file. Naturally, the plaintiff needs time to prepare documents. And the judge postpones the court hearing for a period agreed upon with the parties.

The appointment of an examination entails the suspension of the consideration of the case without the receipt of any requests from the parties. Most often, such situations arise when a claim for damages is being considered. The parties present reports from various experts (for example, on a road accident), and the judge decides to order a forensic examination, which will decide a lot. After the results of the examination are received by the court, the defendant and plaintiff are notified of a new date for the court hearing.

Consideration by the court of a petition to postpone the court hearing

The request for adjournment is considered by the court at the same court session. The court reads the petition, examines and reads out the documents presented, and listens to the opinions of the persons who appeared at the hearing.

Based on the results of the consideration, the court makes a ruling. If the request for adjournment is denied, the court continues to consider the case.

If the request is granted, the court issues a ruling to postpone the court hearing to another day, and indicates the date and time of the next trial. This notifies all persons involved in the case by judicial notices in accordance with Article 113 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

When a court session is adjourned, the court does not consider the case on its merits, does not hear explanations from the persons participating in the case, does not examine evidence and does not question witnesses. However, the court may resolve other existing petitions of the participants in the case, the main thing is to submit them before the closing of the court hearing.

Is it necessary to file a motion to postpone the hearing?

It is mandatory to submit a motion to postpone the court hearing. If a party to the case intends to personally represent their interests and participate in the process of considering the case on its merits. You cannot simply not come to court without giving reasons. Then the court decision can be made without this side of the case. This situation is especially possible when considering “simple” cases (claims for debt collection under a loan agreement, claims for divorce). The court as a whole may consider them in one sitting if no motions have been received from the parties. And personal participation will allow, for example, to ask for a reduction in the penalty, present additional evidence in a civil case, ask questions to witnesses and the party, third parties, etc.

If you do not submit a request to postpone the court hearing in time, the court may not postpone the consideration of the case. But the reasons for the transfer must be compelling and valid. If a party is not ready for the process, it is better to file a motion to postpone the court hearing due to the need to obtain legal assistance. Such a request can be made orally or submitted in writing.

Typically, the case review process consists of several meetings. The first is a preliminary court hearing, at which the judge announces the essence of the case and asks about the presence of petitions. At this meeting, the parties may request to call witnesses, request evidence, or order an examination. It is obvious that the court is unlikely to postpone the preliminary hearing without good reason. Most likely, after the preliminary hearing, a court hearing will be immediately scheduled.

Sample request to postpone a court hearing

We suggest using the provided sample petition to postpone the court hearing. fill it out. indicating your information. The sample petition can be downloaded and retyped or written by hand.

In ___________________________ (name of the court) Plaintiff: ____________________ (full name, address, contact numbers and e-mail)

Defendant: _____________ (full name, address,

contact numbers and e-mail)

within the framework of case No. ______

Request to postpone the hearing

Civil case No. ______ is being processed by _____________ (name of the court) on the claim of __________ (full name of the plaintiff) against _________________ (full name of the defendant) about _____________ (essence of the claim). The court hearing in the case is scheduled for “___”_________ ____ at ____ hour. ___ min.

The applicant was notified of the time and place of the court hearing. However, I am not able to appear in court to participate in the court hearing for the following reasons: _________ (indicate valid reasons for the impossibility of participating in the court hearing).

I will be able to participate in the court hearing after “___”_________ ____, when _________ (indicate when the applicant will be able to participate in the court hearing, for what reasons this period is necessary).

Based on the above, guided by Article 167 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation,

Ask:

Postpone the court hearing _________ (indicate the number of the civil case, full name of the plaintiff, defendant, the essence of the stated requirements) for a period not earlier than "___"_________ ____.
Notify me of the time and place of the next court hearing _________ (indicate a new address if the applicant is not at his home address; telephone number to which notice can be sent; email address).

List of documents attached to the application:

Notification of sending (delivering) a copy of the application to the participants in the case (if necessary)
Documents confirming valid reasons for failure to appear at a court hearing

Date of application “___”_________ ____ Signature of the applicant: _______

petitions (applications):

Request to postpone the hearing

Grounds for refusing to reschedule a meeting to another date

The court has the right to grant or reject a request to postpone the hearing. The main reasons for refusal are as follows:

the grounds are personal and are provided solely for the purpose of delaying the legal process
the period for consideration of the case expires
the reason is not sufficiently valid or supporting documents were not attached to the application

A motion rejected by a judge is not subject to appeal.

Can the application be sent by mail?

If a circumstance preventing attendance at a hearing appears the day before the case is discussed in court or for other valid reasons the participant does not have time to submit an official petition, it is possible to notify the authority in other ways:

By calling the telephone number of the secretary assigned to the case or the court office. The phone number is specified using the State Automated System “Justice” system in case it is not on the agenda.
By email. Handling an electronic signature has the same legal force as a written document. In the absence of an electronic digital signature, the judicial institution also takes into account the circumstances of failure to appear indicated by the party, but during the rescheduled meeting in this case it is obliged to provide evidence of the reasons.

It is not prohibited to send a package of documents by Russian Post. The main thing is that regardless of the method of notifying the court, the reasons must be valid and the evidence weighty.

The consideration of the petition by the judicial authority is carried out in accordance with the rules determined by the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.
All documents are necessarily filed in the case materials and are available for review. During the consideration of the application, each participant in the process has the right to express his or her own opinion regarding the transfer request, including an objection. To clarify the information you are interested in on this or any other issue, please contact a legal consultant using the form below or call the number listed on the website. More details about the consultation can be found on the Consultation page.

How to restore a missed procedural deadline

If your delay in filing a complaint is motivated by errors of the judicial apparatus, this is almost always a good reason to restore the procedural deadline.

However, the reasons for delay are different.

What steps should be taken if the courier was late in delivering the appeal or it was returned due to uncollected duty, a system error in data processing, etc.? It is necessary to understand that not all reasons for exceeding the procedural time limit (hereinafter referred to as PS) are recognized by the court as valid.

The article below will provide effective tips for restoring exceeded PS with examples from real cases.

Where is it easier to restore the exceeded period: in arbitration court or general jurisdiction?

The duration of restoration exceeding the PS is determined by the affiliation of the judicial body (arbitration or civil proceedings).

Regardless of the typology of the court, the restoration procedure will be the same. To do this you need:

File a court petition to restore the procedural deadline;
At the same time, re-send to the court the complaint (application) for which the filing deadline has been exceeded.

In the arbitration court, the issue of restoring the procedurally exceeded period is considered within 5 days (without involving the parties). In a court of civil jurisdiction there is no clear time frame and the issue will be resolved at the next meeting with the involvement of both parties.

On this basis, experts believe that it is easier to restore PS in civil proceedings. Since during the course of arbitration proceedings, all information on the progress of the case and judicial acts are published in the CAD (card index of arbitration cases).

Any petition in arbitration proceedings requires an analysis of procedural documents, which can be uploaded online through the “CAD Arbiter” service.

On the other hand, in legal proceedings of general jurisdiction, various mitigations are possible for citizens:

due to illness;
protracted business trip or other force majeure circumstances.

Let's consider a clear example of a simplified recovery exceeding the PS in civil proceedings compared to arbitration courts.

The defendant was able to restore the period of appeal in a court of general jurisdiction 6 months after its expiration. The motivation for such a long delay was his long stay abroad, which is why the defendant already learned about the proceedings initiated against him after the fact: when his current account was closed.

In arbitration proceedings, the defendant was unable to restore the missed document due to the fact that the transport company forwarding the cassation did not deliver the document on time. The arbitration court did not consider this reason valid and did not extend the procedural period.

When should we expect the restoration of the procedural deadline?

PS is restored only for a valid reason recognized by the court. Whether a specific reason is valid is a matter for the court to decide independently.

As a rule, if the delay is caused by truly force majeure circumstances, the courts try to accommodate the applicant halfway.

The most valid reason for restoring the PS is judicial acts prepared, sent and published at the wrong time. This condition almost always guarantees an extension of the deadline.

However, the length of time exceeded also affects the court decision. It is desirable that the procedural delay be longer than the delay of the participant in the process. It is important to calculate all deadlines correctly.

In practice, arbitration courts, when considering issues of extending procedural delays, use a reference to the office work instructions, which permit the publication of the verdict in the media (on the official website) on tomorrow (the next weekday) after the announcement of the decision.

In this vein, experts clarify that the majority of individuals (organizations) submitting applications are not familiar with this procedure, and therefore expect full reasons for the court decision to appear on the same day.

Cases of possible restoration of the procedural period in arbitration proceedings

When:

The appeal was filed on time, but violated the established procedure. This usually happens when the applicant first sends it to the appellate authority, from which the application is returned to him. And only after this the applicant files a complaint to the 1st instance (for example, case number A60-55732/2019);
there is a judicial error (usually a typo) with the terms of appeal or the verdict does not contain information on the terms of appeal (for example, case number A41-35117/2019);
the applicant (the person under his care: an incapacitated relative, a minor child, etc.) is in hospital treatment (for example, case number A27-25946/2017);
the appeal complaint (strictly before the deadline for filing) is transmitted through the courier delivery service that delayed the transportation of the document (for example, case number A70-4558/2020);
the applicant lives in an area without Internet coverage and does not have the technical ability to monitor publications on his case (for example, case number imA19-2643/2014).

Options for the possible restoration of procedural time in a court of general jurisdiction

In case:

the applicant was on a long-term business trip (example, appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated September 10, 2019 in case number 33-40867/2019);
the applicant was temporarily disabled (for example, case number 33-4292/2021);
the person participating in the process was not properly (according to the regulatory procedure) notified of the meeting (for example, case number 41-KG20-22-K4);

Do courts accept arguments related to the coronavirus pandemic as a valid reason for reinstating procedural delays?

Based on current judicial practice: yes, they are. However, from the explanation of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, it is clear that a judge, notified of any interference in the normal course of the process due to “epidemiological circumstances,” should not make a decision to postpone the hearing immediately, but should analyze in detail all the arguments for the reasons presented.

For example, epidemiological (quarantine) restrictions are not considered by the court as valid reasons explaining the inability of participants in the arbitration process to deliver documentation to the court. The courts rightly note that documents can be transferred without personal presence in electronic format or sent by mail (for example, case number A84-3828/2019). However, it should be taken into account that the determination of the degree of insurmountability of epidemiological circumstances is largely variable in each individual case.

For example, the court took the side of bank employees who, due to quarantine restrictions, were forced to switch to a remote work format, as a result of which they could not be included in the register of claims from the debtor on time (for example, case number A60-68748/2019).

The courts recognize the presence of a positive test for covid-19 as a valid reason of an epidemiological nature that influenced the involvement of a participant in the trial (for example, case number A70-17332/2020).

How significant is the delay period?

To obtain a positive decision on a request to extend the PS, it is necessary not only to present the circumstances that provoked the delay, but also to convincingly prove their objective impact on the impossibility of timely completion of the procedural action.

In domestic legal proceedings, there is a universal principle of restoring a procedural action in the case where it was completed within a reasonable period of delay with the elimination of the reasons that prevented it from being carried out on time. Unofficially, a delay of up to a month is considered reasonable.

Important! The longer the delay in carrying out the procedural action, the less likely the applicant is to restore the exceeded period.

As a rule, courts are most willing to reinstate briefly exceeded deadlines. For example, PS exceeded by one day is almost always restored.

In domestic practice, there are cases of restoration of the maximum limit exceeded by one day, without any objective reasons for its extension being present in the case.

Such cases usually arise when a complaint sent on the last scheduled day is returned to the applicant due to lost fees. If you pay the additional fee and resubmit the complaint (application) the next day, the courts, as a rule, restore the deadline and accept the complaint for consideration.

However, taking into account the widespread introduction of an electronic document management system, courts are beginning to increasingly study not only the date of sending the application for restoration of the PS, but also the specific time of its filing.

In judicial practice, there are cases when a complaint was uploaded to the electronic reception desk at 00:00:00 on the last regulatory day. In this case, the complaint is considered submitted on time, since technically the report of the new day (01 sec.) has not yet arrived.

When is there no chance of reinstating a missed procedural deadline?

The court does not consider the following reasons for requesting an extension of the PS to be valid:

absence of lawyers on the staff of the submitting organization;
organizational and personnel changes in the staff of the applicant company;
change or absence of management of the applicant company for any formal reasons (vacation, business trip, communication problems, etc.).

However, in practice, applicants often refer to such circumstances when trying to extend the exceeded PS (for example, case number A79-5726/2017). To which they receive a justified judicial refusal.

Also, a refusal to apply for an extension of the PS will be received if the company terminated the contract with its previous representative and spent the time allotted by the court searching for a new one (for example, case number A40-160966/2019).

Important! Internal legal and organizational processes in the applicant company will never be considered by the court as sufficient reasons to restore the delay in the procedural action.

Tips from the experts

It is necessary to understand that it is impossible to fully predict the time and nature of the occurrence of force majeure circumstances for a participant in the trial (or circumstances that he or the court considers such). Therefore, each such case must be considered separately.

For example, an applicant who referred to the extension of the PS due to illness will be denied if he did not stay in the hospital for long and only on the last days required by law (for example, case number 33-41947/2017).

In another case, a judicial refusal will be received in response to the motivation for the extension due to a special access procedure introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, since in the region where the case was considered, such restrictions were completely lifted before the expiration of the procedural period (for example, case number A57-2276/2020).

However, experts unanimously recommend that you first take care of collecting evidence if you are sure that you are guaranteed to miss the PS. It is advisable to justify the circumstances that led to the delay as force majeure factors beyond your direct control. Also, when submitting an application for extension, it is necessary to describe as thoroughly and in detail as possible all the reasons that led to the delay.

If the delay is long, you can try to justify the restoration of the deadline by the circumstances that otherwise your constitutional right to judicial protection will be violated (for example, case number A19-5420/2016).

All collected evidence (certificates, eyewitness accounts, photographs and videos, expert opinions, technical examinations, etc.) must be attached to the application.

If the reason for reinstating the deadline is remote work, attach copies of the relevant orders from the organization’s management to the application.
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