TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Peng-Kwang Chen, I-Ming Chen, Pamela Huang and Claudia Huang, Formosa Transnational Attorneys At Law
When Appealing to the High Court If the High Court finds that the appeal is not justified, it will enter a judgment denying it. If the High Court finds that the appeal is justified, it will, within the scope of the demand made by appeal, enter a judgment to reverse or amend the judgment from the District Court. In the case that there is a material procedural defect in the District Court’s judgment, the High Court may reverse the judgment and remand the case back to the District Court. This is an extraordinary situation for the purpose to maintain the system of court instances. When Appealing to the Supreme Court If the Supreme Court finds that the appeal is justified, and the facts of the case are unclear, it will reverse the judgment and remand the case back to the High Court with directions on matters to be further investigated, and the legal opinions that the High Court shall obey. Remands are fairly common. In exceptional cases where further fact-finding by a lower court is not required, the Supreme Court may also enter a judgment on its own. 11. Costs 11.1 Responsibility for Paying the Costs of Litigation Costs of litigation consist of numerous items, includ- ing court costs, fees for photocopies, video record- ing, transcripts, translation of litigation documents, daily fees and travel expenses for witnesses and court-appointed experts, and other necessary fees. Also, attorney fees incurred during an appeal to the Supreme Court (where the mandatory legal represen- tation applies) are considered to be costs of litiga- tion. However, the Supreme Court will determine an “appropriate amount” of attorney fees to be included in the costs of litigation. This usually ranges between TWD20,000 (approximately USD623) to TWD50,000 (approximately USD1,558). In practice, court awards of reasonable attorney fees are usually much lower than actual attorney fees.
Court costs must be paid in advance by the plaintiff when the lawsuit is filed, and are calculated based on the amount or value of the subject matter of the litiga- tion. If the court wrongfully determines the value of the subject matter of the litigation, the parties may file an interlocutory appeal to challenge such determination. 11.2 Factors Considered When Awarding Costs In principle, the court will determine the costs of litiga- tion in proportion to the parts that each party loses. For example, where the plaintiff claims for TWD100 from the defendant, and the court awards the plaintiff TWD80, the court will likely decide that the plaintiff shall be responsible for 20% of the costs of litigation incurred, while the defendant is responsible for 80%. However, where the successful party’s act is not necessary to assert their rights, such as excessively requesting examination from court-appointed experts and hence incurring related fees, the court may order the prevailing party to pay all or a portion of the costs of litigation. 11.3 Interest Awarded on Costs Interest on the costs of litigation will accrue at the statutory rate of 5% per annum, starting from the date the decision is served on the parties. 12. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) 12.1 Views of ADR Within the Country There are multiple ADR options available in Taiwan, including settlement, mediation, conciliation and arbi- tration. Because ADR can effectively reduce judicial burdens, and help the parties to devise an accept- able solution to their disagreements, the Taiwanese government actively promotes the use of ADR. ADR has been identified as a priority for judicial reform. The Judicial Yuan even established the ADR Mechanism Search Platform in 2017 to connect parties seeking ADR options with relevant institutions. Among the ADR options mentioned above, settlement in litigation and mediation are the most popular ADR methods in practice. That is because a settlement
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