Article 34 of the Russian Civil Procedure Code provides for such a thing as a settlement agreement. The essence of this is to achieve a strictly defined agreement between the conflicting parties (the plaintiff and the defendant).
An amicable settlement in a civil process may be concluded at any stage of the proceedings, but only until the court decision is announced. Also, the plaintiff’s refusal of his claim and the subsequent signing of an agreement between both parties is possible both in the appeal commission and in the executive proceedings.
The main thing is that the conflict be settled and that both sides are ready for negotiations to make a joint decision that will suit everyone. If the court has announced its decision, the settlement will not be taken into account.
In practice, a settlement in a civil process can be filed with the court as a single document signed by both parties, or by means of separate statements from the plaintiff and defendant. These statements are entered into the judicial record and filed to the case. The chairman of the court session before the approval of this agreement shall bring to the parties the consequences of its signing. Further, a settlement in a civil process, the sample of which contains the established information, is submitted for consideration by the court. What is indicated in this document?
The sample settlement agreement in the civil process necessarily contains information about the voluntary signing of such, the essence of the conflict, the reason why the warring parties are ready to conclude a mutually beneficial agreement, including all kinds of concessions that each of the parties is ready to make with respect to the other, sharing all the costs incurred and expenses either equally or proportionately.
It is very important that the settlement agreement, only approved by the court, is subject to strict compliance by both parties. If it is violated, the conditions prescribed in it will be enforced. Settlement in civil procedure can be approved by the court and concluded only between the conflicting parties, if it does not contradict the law and does not infringe on the rights of other (third) persons who claim separate independent claims on a controversial issue. In case of refusal when approving this agreement, the court makes its decision on refusal, while indicating the reasons for such a decision, and then carries out the consideration of the case on the merits.
In the case of approval of this agreement, a repeated appeal to the court between the same parties and on the same grounds is not allowed. But, despite the legal importance of concluding a mutual agreement of the parties and its possibilities, it does not always lead to the end of legal proceedings.
It should also be noted that the settlement agreement can be adopted by the conflicting parties during the execution of the court decision, when the plaintiff already has a judicial act in his hands, on the basis of which a writ of execution is issued. The essence of a settlement at this stage is the voluntary execution of a court order without coercion by the state.
As an instrument for resolving any conflict, a settlement agreement serves and helps the further development of relations between both parties. And most importantly, this agreement is an expression of the will of the parties and their bilateral initiative. In this case, the parties themselves determine the conditions for resolving this conflict and the size of a possible concession to the requirements put forward.
The parties themselves determine the conditions for resolving this conflict and the extent of a possible concession to the requirements put forward. Therefore, just like other expenses, legal expenses are repaid in the amounts stipulated by the agreement. If this is not provided for in the agreement, then these costs are allocated in accordance with generally accepted rules on civil proceedings.