SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henriquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Carmen Serrano, López-Ibor DPM
• entities lacking legal personality, recognised by the law as having the capacity to be a party. Legitimate parties are those that appear and act in court as parties to the judicial relationship or the mat- ter in dispute. 3.4 Initial Complaint Civil lawsuits are initiated by means of a written claim ( demanda ), signed by the lawyer and the court agent, which must clearly identify the court to which it is addressed, the facts, the legal grounds on which it is based, as well as the relief sought. The claim must also include all related documentation that is either known or should be known at the time it is filed. In this regard, no further documents may be added at a later stage, except where these documents are from a later date or could not be provided by the party at the time the claim was filed. However, the plaintiff may, at the preliminary hearing or at the trial proceedings, submit relevant evidence relating to the merits of the case, following allegations made by the defendant in their defence. The claim can be amended to modify the relief sought or to change the defendants up until the opposition is filed. Once the opposition has been filed, the plaintiff may only clarify aspects that are not entirely clear or include complementary allegations. 3.5 Rules of Service As a rule, once the claim has been filed and admitted for processing, the court manages its serving on and notification to the defendant to the address specified by the claimant. The claimant’s court agent may also request to be authorised to personally carry out the notification. If the claimant fails or is unable to correctly designate a place where the defendant may be located, the court may use any means at its disposal to find the defend- ant, such as consulting public or official registries. Under Spanish law, serving a claim abroad requires following the procedure set out in either:
• Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the member states of judicial and extrajudicial docu- ments in civil or commercial matters, if the com- plaint is being served in an EU member state; or • the Hague Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, if the complaint is being served outside the EU. 3.6 Failure to Respond If the defendant does not file a statement of defence or opposition within 20 business days after it is served (or ten business days in the case of minor oral trials), the proceedings will continue in its absence. In such a case, the court will declare the defendant in default. Being in default does not imply an acceptance of the claim or an admission of the facts of the claim by the party, and the defendant may appear at any subse- quent stage during the proceedings. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions Spanish law allows for representative or collective actions to be filed: • to defend the “collective interest” of consumers, which may be brought by a consumer associa- tion or other authorised legal entity as long as the claimants are individually identified or are easily identifiable; • to protect the “widespread interests” of consum- ers, which may be brought by a representative consumer association for the protection of the common interests of consumers whose identity is unknown or difficult to determine; and • to protect the equality of gender or non-discrimi- nation based on gender, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics. Additionally, pursuant to Directive 2009/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on injunctions for the protection of consumers’ interests, public prosecutors and certain qualified bodies of any EU member state are allowed to seek injunctions for the protection of consumers’ interests in Spain. The Spanish legal system provides that individual consumers can freely “opt in” but they cannot “opt
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