The Arbitration Procedure Code provides for several options for temporarily suspending judicial proceedings. In the current edition of Art. 158 APC of the Russian Federation, the procedure and conditions for the adjournment of the proceedings are fixed. This option is often used in practice. He is as popular as declaring a break. Next, we consider in more detail the features of the application of Art. 158 APC RF with the comments of lawyers.
Grounds for suspension
According to the first part of Art. 158 APC of the Russian Federation, adjournment of the trial is allowed in cases expressly provided for by the Code, as well as in the absence of one of the participants at a meeting if the court does not have information about notifying him of the place and time of the hearing.
Temporary suspension of proceedings is possible at the request of the parties if they have turned to the court or another entity (including a mediator) for assistance in resolving the dispute.
According to the provisions of part 3 of norm 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, the adjournment of the trial is allowed at the request of the participant, duly notified, but who did not appear at the meeting. In his application, he must justify the reasons for his absence. The court, in turn, adjournes the proceedings if the reasons stated by the applicant are recognized as valid. Similar provisions apply if the representative of the party fails to appear. In such a situation, the party to the proceedings also makes a motion indicating the circumstances that prevented the representative from attending the hearing.
In h. 5 Article. 158 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, it is stipulated that the arbitration has the right to interrupt the consideration of the case if it establishes that the proceedings are not possible at this meeting, including:
- due to the non-appearance of any of the parties to the dispute, other persons involved in the proceedings;
- in case of technical malfunctions in the process of using special meeting facilities, including video conferencing systems;
- upon satisfaction of the request of any party to adjourn the meeting in connection with the need to provide additional evidence;
- when committing other actions provided for by procedural legislation.
The proceedings may be postponed by decision of the presiding judge, his deputy, chairman of the court if it is impossible to hold a meeting, including because of a judge’s illness. The suspension of production is allowed no more than 10 days.
Procedural moments
According to part 6 of rule 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, upon adjournment of the trial, the court may interrogate the witnesses who appeared at the hearing, if there are also participants in the dispute. Taken evidence must be announced at a new hearing. Repeated calling of already interviewed witnesses is allowed only if necessary.
The trial may be delayed for the period required to eliminate the circumstances that have become an obstacle to the continuation of the proceedings. However, this period should not be more than 1 month. In the case provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 158 of the APC of the RF, this period may be doubled.
The court makes a decision on the adjournment of the meeting.
The parties to the dispute, as well as other entities involved in the proceedings, are notified of the time and place of the new meeting. Persons present at the hearing shall be notified directly in the courtroom under the signature in the minutes.
In a new meeting, the proceedings are resumed from the moment from which it was postponed. Moreover, the evidence investigated earlier is not considered again.
Comments on Art. 158 agribusiness of the Russian Federation
As mentioned above, the adjournment and adjournment of the meeting are the most common ways to suspend proceedings in practice. The reasons for their announcement are different.
The break is usually set for lunch, night, holidays and weekends. Its duration cannot be more than 5 days. In the cases specified in the legislation, the adjournment of the proceedings is announced. As a rule, the meeting is adjourned if the parties fail to appear, there is no confirmation of the proper notification of the participants in the place and time of the hearing, if it becomes necessary to provide additional evidence if third parties are involved in the proceedings, a judge is replaced, an improper defendant, etc.
According to the provisions of norm 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, the court must issue a ruling on the adjournment of the proceedings. It may be a protocol, since it is not subject to appeal. However, since all participants in the process must be notified of the adjournment of the proceedings, the determination is made out in a separate document. Copies of it are sent to the participants in the proceedings as a notification.
After the adjournment or adjournment of the proceedings, the hearing shall continue. In this provision, arbitration proceedings differ from civil proceedings. In the latter case, after the adjournment of the case, its consideration begins from the very beginning.
The more was done at the preparatory stage of the proceedings, the more actively the parties to the dispute and the court acted, performing the actions provided for in article 135 of the agro-industrial complex, the higher the chances of considering the case in one sitting.
The specifics of the grounds
In the first part of norm 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, it is established that adjournment of the hearing is allowed in cases expressly stipulated by law. These, in particular, include:
- Replacing a judge or arbitrator.
- Entry into the case of a co-defendant or co-defendant.
- Replacing an improper defendant.
- Involvement of third parties in production.
The adjournment of the hearing, in accordance with the provisions of norm 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, is also allowed if the participant in the dispute does not appear at the meeting, if the court does not have information about its proper notification of the place and time of the hearing. As a proof of delivery of the summons to the person, a receipt, notice or other document acts, which reliably establishes the fact of delivery. The specified document must be attached to the materials.
According to the current legislation, for a notice to be deemed proper it is enough to receive the first judicial act. The absence of such a notice is regarded as a mandatory basis for postponing the proceedings.
The provisions on adjournment of the meeting in cases stipulated by law are reference. The possibility of interruption of the hearing is provided in case of failure to appear for consideration of the case of witnesses, experts, translators, duly notified of the time and place of the meeting. The arbitration shall also be adjourned if the parties have not filed a motion to continue the proceedings in the absence of these persons (part one of Article 157 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation).
The 158 norm does not list all the grounds on which a meeting may be postponed. In article 253 of the Code, interruption of proceedings is allowed to notify a foreign party to a dispute. In connection with the execution of the court’s order, the trial is adjourned in accordance with the procedure laid down in the agro-industrial complex.
Seeking Assistance
In parts 2-5 of the norm 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, the grounds are fixed on which the court has the right, but is not obliged to postpone the proceedings. One of such circumstances is the petition of both parties to the dispute when they seek the assistance of a court or mediator (mediator) to resolve the dispute.
One of the key tasks of the court is the reconciliation of the parties. For its implementation, the court must take all necessary legal measures. It should be noted that the mediation procedure was introduced into practice relatively recently. Currently, the institution of mediation in the domestic judicial system is developing very dynamically.
Failure to attend
According to Article 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, the court has the right to adjourn the hearing if the participant in the dispute, notified of the place and time of the hearing of the case, but not present at the hearing, makes a request. A similar provision applies if the representative of that person fails to appear.
In the application, as specified in Art. 158 APC of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to indicate good reasons for the absence. Assessment of circumstances that prevented the appearance is carried out exclusively by the court. Good reasons may be recognized as being on a long business trip, illness, other circumstances creating obstacles for a person to come to court. The decision on the adjournment of the meeting in case of non-appearance of the representative of the party to the dispute is also transferred to the discretion of the court. In the Russian Federation, the absence of this person is not a mandatory basis for applying the provisions of the norms 157, 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation.
Interruption of proceedings due to absence of a judge
The chairman of the court, his deputy has the right to postpone the meeting in case of illness of the judge or in the presence of other circumstances that impede the conduct of the meeting. At the same time, the termination of proceedings cannot be more than 10 days.
This norm appeared in the agricultural industry relatively recently. However, in practice, in the event of a judge’s illness, the meeting was adjourned. Now this provision is officially enshrined in law.
Nuances
In all cases provided for by Art. 157, 158 of the APC of the Russian Federation, petitions are submitted. They can be written or oral. In the latter case, the application must be reflected in the minutes of the meeting. As a rule, requests for adjournment of the proceedings are considered at the preparatory stage of the process, when the appearance of persons is established, compliance with the rules of judicial notice is checked.
The court hears the opinion of the parties involved in the proceedings regarding the application. However, the final decision on the satisfaction or rejection of the request he makes independently.
The law allows a petition to adjourn the hearing at the stage of investigation of the evidence presented if, for example, the defendant declares a counterclaim, the grounds or subject of claims are changed, etc.
If the decision to return the counterclaim is disputed before a decision is made on the merits of the initial claims, their proceedings may be delayed until the complaint is examined.
Interrogation of witnesses
If the arbitration concludes that the adjournment of the proceedings is possible, the law gives it the right to interrogate the witnesses who appeared at the hearing if the parties are present at the hearing. The collected evidence is recorded in the minutes.
The possibility of interrogation of witnesses is enshrined in the legislation to save their time and speed up the whole proceedings as a whole. The testimonies reflected in the minutes are announced in a new meeting.
Re-calling previously interrogated persons is optional. A call may take place if the court considers it necessary (for example, in case of discrepancies between the testimonies and other evidence, if necessary, clarification of any circumstances pointed out by the witnesses, etc.).
The timing
They are mentioned in part 7 of article 158 of the agro-industrial complex. According to the norm, the court has the right to postpone the proceedings for no more than 1 month. Meanwhile, in practice, a temporary suspension of production can be carried out several times.
In connection with the change of approach to the institution of adjournment of the proceedings, in practice a lot of questions arose. According to the provisions of Article 158, in the event of repeated occurrence during the consideration of a dispute of circumstances that are grounds for interruption of the process, temporary suspension of proceedings may be carried out several times. The duration of each deposit should not exceed the period fixed in the agro-industrial complex for an appropriate basis.
Given the particular case, the total time for which the trial is adjourned may well exceed the period established by law. At the same time, upon repeated interruption of the process, the court must comply with the requirement of administering justice within a reasonable time.
In order to reconcile the parties, the arbitration tribunal has the right to postpone the proceedings at the request of both parties to the dispute, if they turned to the court or a mediator (mediator) for assistance. 158 article of the APC in such cases allows the interruption of the trial for no more than 2 months. It must be said that participants are not required to provide any evidence of contacting a mediator.
The specifics of the new meeting
The provisions of part 10 of part 158 of the rules of the agro-industrial complex significantly changed the concept of a hearing held after postponing the previous one. The proceedings in the new meeting continue from the moment from which it was suspended.
Previously used a different approach. According to him, after the break, the meeting resumed, and after the adjournment - the production began anew. A similar model is provided for in the CCP. Meanwhile, the modern arbitration and procedural legislation establishes a different approach. In a new meeting, evidence examined during the proceedings before the adjournment of the proceedings is not re-examined. Of course, exceptions can be made from this rule if the court considers it necessary.
Deferred proceedings should be resumed by the panel of judges who initially considered the case. This requirement ensures compliance with the principle of the unchanged composition of judges in the course of proceedings in one case.
Conclusion
The adjournment of the proceedings may be carried out at any stage of the trial of any kind. All forms of arbitration proceedings are based on the institute of action proceedings with the exceptions provided for by the agro-industrial complex.
In the Code, however, there are no exceptions regarding the postponement of cases arising from administrative-legal relations, disputes about the establishment of facts, recognition of insolvency. Deposition is permitted by law and at all stages of the review of judicial decisions.