DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas Norvold, Søren Locher, Anne Mie Lund and Pawel Weigel, Fabritius Tengnagel & Heine
2.2 Third-Party Funding: Lawsuits All lawsuits are available for third-party funding. 2.3 Third-Party Funding for Plaintiff and Defendant Third-party funding is available for both the plaintiff and the defendant. 2.4 Minimum and Maximum Amounts of Third-Party Funding There are no minimum or maximum amounts that a third-party funder can fund in Denmark. 2.5 Types of Costs Considered Under Third- Party Funding The costs a third-party funder will usually consider funding are the client’s attorney’s fees, court fees, and adverse costs ordered by the court (if a case is lost). If the case is assessed as requiring a court-appointed expert to obtain relevant evidence (eg, technical mat- ters), the third-party funder will also consider funding such costs. 2.6 Contingency Fees Attorneys’ fees in Denmark are regulated by the Code of Conduct of the Danish Bar and Law Society, which was most recently amended on 1 July 2025. Prior to the amendment to the regulation on 1 Sep- tember 2022, it was not possible for an attorney to agree to receive a percentage of the amount won in the case. After the amendment in 2022, there is no such prohi- bition. However, an attorney cannot demand a higher fee for their work than what can be considered rea- sonable, pursuant to Section 126, Paragraph 2 of the Administration of Justice Act. Furthermore, an attor- ney cannot enter into agreements with clients or oth- ers where the fee is to be determined in a manner that could affect the attorney’s independence during the performance of their duties. As the rules are relatively new, there is currently no established practice that sets out the specific limits for a performance-based fee.
2.7 Time Limit for Obtaining Third-Party Funding There are no time limits within which a party to the litigation should obtain third-party funding.
3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-Action Conduct
The parties are not required to take any steps before initiating civil cases in Denmark. However, for debt collection, it is required by law to send a claim letter with a ten-day payment deadline. If this requirement is not met, the party initiating a lawsuit may not be awarded legal costs by the court, even if the case is won. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations The starting point in Danish law is that a claim becomes time-barred after three years. The limitation period is calculated from the earliest point at which the creditor could demand the fulfilment of the claim. If the credi- tor is unaware of the claim or the debtor, the limitation period starts from the day the creditor became aware, or should have become aware, thereof. In any case, the absolute statutory limitation period is ten years. There are special, longer statutes of limitations – eg, a payment claim based on a promissory note becomes time-barred after ten years. In special legislation, there are also shorter limitation periods – eg, in legislation relating to the Conven- tion on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), the statutory limitation period is generally one year. It should also be noted that the creditor’s passivity – in cases where the claim is not formally time-barred – can result in the claim no longer being enforceable if the debtor acquires a legitimate expectation that the claim will not be enforced due to the creditor’s passiv- ity. Passivity is often asserted by the parties but rarely applied by the courts.
264 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook