Any lawsuit involves the participation of at least two parties. But in real life, a situation may arise where it is necessary to bring several defendants to justice. This is called “procedural complicity,” that is, filing claims with several individuals.
General concepts
An application for the involvement of the defendant is presented along with the nomination of requirements for the main defendant. The need to attract other defendants may arise at any stage of the consideration of the claim.
At the level of legislation, several types of complicity are distinguished:
- active, that is, several people speak on the part of the prosecution;
- passive, that is, several defendants;
- mixed, in which several sides appear on both sides of the process.
Normative acts of restrictions on the number of participants by the plaintiff and defendant are not provided. Some plaintiffs take advantage of this and in the application immediately indicate several defendants so that the judge identifies at least one guilty person.
The main condition is that all co-defendants have equal rights and obligations to the person who makes the claims. For example, a lawsuit is filed against two persons who, on an equal footing, own someone else's property.
Document preparation
There is no unified form for applying for the involvement of a co-defendant, but in practice certain rules have been worked out for drawing up such a document, which it is recommended to adhere to.
- The "cap" of the document.
This part shall indicate the details of the court, plaintiff and defendant. If the application for the involvement of the co-defendant is submitted from a legal entity, then the details of the enterprise, location, legal form are indicated. In the case of filing a document from a legal representative, the details of the power of attorney are indicated.
- Title of the document and details of the case.
- The content part.
This block prescribes the situation that led to the trial. The following explains the reasons why the plaintiff decided to attract co-defendants. This is the main part of the application for involvement as a co-defendant. It must indicate objective evidence with references to regulations that confirm the correctness of the position of the plaintiff.
- The essence of the request and the data or details of the contractor involved.
Applications that confirm all the facts stated in the content of the document. All applications should be listed as a list.
- F. I. O., signature of the applicant and date of preparation of the document.
Sample application for the involvement of the co-defendant
The text of the document may look like this:
In ... name of court ...
(from) the details or data of the Claimant ....
In the production of the court ... details ... there is a civil case No. ... from ... date ... according to the claim ... F.AND.O. of the plaintiff ... to the defendant - F. I. O ... the data of the defendant.
During the preparation and consideration of the case, it turned out that further consideration of the case is impossible without the participation of the defendant ... data ... for the following reasons ... (reasons are written why it is necessary to attract a second defendant).
Based on the foregoing and guided by the provisions of Article 40 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, I ask you to bring the plaintiff ... F. I. About ... the data of the corresponding person.
Date of compilation ... signature ... F. I. O.
In general, regardless of the type of trial, the sample application for involvement as co-defendants does not change. You will only have to adjust the articles referred to by the plaintiff. It should be remembered that any participant in the process has the right to file such a request.
Court action
Only a court can decide the validity of filing a request for the involvement of a co-defendant. It should be remembered that the judge is not required to attract other defendants, this is just his right. Therefore, a lot depends on how competently the document will be drawn up.
Based on the outcome of the consideration of the appeal, the court makes a determination in which it satisfies the application or refuses. Such a judicial act is not subject to appeal. But both sides have the right to speak out and to declare their disagreement with the justification of their arguments.
If the application is granted, then the respondent is involved in the process from the date the decision is made. If one of the defendants claims and proves the passage of the statute of limitations by the plaintiff, then such a statement will not apply to other defendants.
The court has the right to attract a co-defendant in another capacity, for example, as a third party who does not state separate claims.
Inappropriate defendant
When drawing up and filing a claim, the applicant must indicate clearly to which subject of legal relations he addresses his claims. If the statement of claim is sent to the wrong person, then he is called an improper defendant. For example, if a consumer received defective goods and filed a complaint through a court against a courier, and not against the seller or supplier, then the first defendant is an improper person. After all, the carrier cannot be responsible for the quality of the goods.
In such a situation, the plaintiff has the right to replace the defendant in the trial, regardless of the type of trial. Unlike attracting co-defendants, if a replacement is made, then the consideration of the case begins anew.
Features
A petition to bring a co-defendant in a civil proceeding may be rejected by a judge. Therefore, it is very important to give irrefutable reasons for handling such a petition.
It is very important to observe a number of conditions when drawing up an appeal:
- the requirements for the first, second and subsequent defendants must have one basis;
- items of dispute must be homogeneous;
- violations of the rights of the plaintiff by the defendants must be common.
All these factors are very important to consider when determining the face of the defendants. For example, if arrears of wages have arisen, then it is impossible to present claims for their payment to the founder of the LLC or an accountant; you can recover arrears only directly from a legal entity. After all, labor relations arise exclusively between the employee and the enterprise.
Negative consequences
The procedural legislation entrusted the plaintiff with the right to present claims to the defendant to whom he considers it necessary to apply. No one has the right to compel him to file a motion to attract a co-defendant in an arbitration process or in a court of general jurisdiction, if he does not consider it necessary to put forward claims on this person. For the plaintiff, this is an additional plus, since legal costs increase as the number of defendants increases. For example, according to the requirements of Article 323 of the Civil Code, joint debt liability is provided for debtors. But at the same time, the creditor has the right to file a claim only against one debtor. On the other hand, Article 40 of the Code of Civil Procedure indicates that only a person can be involved in the process without which it is not possible to resolve the dispute.