SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreas Eriksson, Anders Arthur, David Nykvist and Saga Hanson, TIME DANOWSKY Advokatbyrå
whether the dispute is resolved through litigation or arbitration, but the fees of arbitrators and arbitration institutes are often not included in the coverage. For mediation and other types of ADR, the fees of media- tors appointed under the Code of Judicial Procedure are often included in the coverage, but typically not the costs for other types of ADR. 5.5 Costs In civil cases in court proceedings, the “loser pays” principle applies, meaning that the losing party is typi- cally ordered to pay the winning party’s reasonable legal costs. In the case of mixed outcomes, the cost allocation is adjusted accordingly. A similar approach is commonly adopted in arbitration proceedings in Sweden. 5.6 Assessment of Costs Both courts and arbitral tribunals normally allocate costs between the parties based on the outcome of the dispute, such that the losing party is ordered to reimburse the winning party’s costs. However, this principle may be deviated from, for instance, if a party has unduly burdened the case with unjustified asser- tions. Compensation is awarded only for costs that were reasonably necessary to defend the party’s rights. This typically includes attorney’s fees, costs for inves- tigations and evidence, as well as the party’s own work. Costs submissions are often very short, only containing the amounts requested and a brief descrip- tion of what they relate to. The court or arbitral tribunal makes its assessment of the reasonableness based, mainly, on the nature and scope of the case and what has transpired during the proceedings.
an intellectual property infringement) pending a final judgment. The courts, however, have broad powers to order other suitable measures to protect the claim- ant’s rights. Such orders may be combined with a fine that becomes payable in case of non-compliance. Generally, in order for a request for interim relief to be granted, the applicant must demonstrate probable cause for the claim and that there is a risk that the opposing party will undermine the applicant’s rights. A proportionality assessment is always conducted, and the applicant must, as a rule, provide financial security to cover any damage caused to the opposing party by the imposition of the requested measure. 6.2 Interim Relief to Support Arbitration and ADR Under the Arbitration Act, courts may, regardless of the fact that the dispute is subject to an arbitration agreement, issue orders for interim measures both before and after the initiation of arbitration proceed- ings. 6.3 Timing of Applications for Interim Relief Applications for interim measures are typically made before, or at the very outset of, legal proceedings in respect of the main claim. Both the Code of Judicial Procedure and the Arbitra- tion Act allow courts to issue orders on interim relief before and at any point during the proceedings. Arbitrators cannot order interim measures before the arbitral tribunal has been constituted, which usually takes some time. Certain arbitration institutes, such as the SCC, have therefore issued rules on emer- gency arbitrations, which make it possible for interim measures to be ordered by an interim arbitrator that is appointed before the initiation of the main proceed- ings. 6.4 Security for Costs There is no general right for a party to request security for its costs. However, in court proceedings, foreign claimants (not including claimants from the EEA and certain other countries) bringing claims against a Swedish or
6. Interim Remedies 6.1 Availability of Interim Relief
Interim measures are provisional court orders intended to secure a party’s rights during ongoing proceedings. The most common forms are attachment (ie, the freezing of assets to secure a monetary claim or the right to specific property) and injunctions (ie, orders aimed at stopping ongoing harmful conduct, such as
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