DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas Norvold, Søren Locher, Anne Mie Lund and Pawel Weigel, Fabritius Tengnagel & Heine
statute of limitations for the claim should be deter- mined preliminarily. 4.3 Dispositive Motions A party may request the dismissal of the case on the grounds of the court’s lack of jurisdiction, for instance, or that the claimant is not the proper plaintiff or the defendant is not the proper party to sue regarding the presented claim. Formal objections must be raised in the first pleading to the court. If the defendant requests the court’s permission to adjudicate the formality of the case separately (see 4.2 Early Judgment Applications ), the defendant may limit themselves to raising their formality objections in their response pleading. 4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit A third party – not named as plaintiff or defendant – can apply to join a lawsuit by filing a writ of summons with the court if: • there is jurisdiction in Denmark for their claim; • the claim can be processed under the same proce- dural rules as the other claims; and • the third party will assert an independent claim concerning the subject matter of the case, or the third party’s claim is so connected to the original claim that it should be addressed within the case, and this will not cause significant inconvenience to the original parties. Upon the request of one of the original parties, the court may reject the third party’s application if it should have occurred earlier. After the case preparation con- cludes, joining the cases requires court consent. In addition to the above, a third party who has a legal interest in the outcome of a case may apply to join the case in support of one of the parties. The court determines the manner in which the joining party may present their arguments and evidence during the case. The court may award or impose litigation costs on the joining party.
Under certain conditions, third parties can also be involved in an already initiated court case by the par- ties to the case. 4.5 Applications for Security for Defendant’s Costs In the response pleading, the defendant can request that the court require a plaintiff who does not have residence or domicile in the European Economic Area to provide security for the litigation costs they may be ordered to pay to the defendant. However, this does not apply if the plaintiff resides or has a domicile in a country where a plaintiff with residence or domicile in Denmark is exempt from providing security for litiga- tion costs. 4.6 Costs of Interim Applications/Motions The court decides on costs ex officio, without the par- ties having to file separate claims. 4.7 Application/Motion Timeframe The parties may request urgent handling of a matter; the court generally recognises such requests if the matter is urgent. However, the parties do not have a legal right to have their request processed within a specific timeframe. According to the Danish Administration of Justice Act, upon the request of a party, the court may com- pel the opposing party to produce documents under their control – unless doing so would reveal informa- tion about matters on which they would be prohibited or exempted from testifying as a witness. It must be demonstrated that the requested documents are or could be relevant to the case. The general rule is that everyone – except the parties or their close relatives – has a duty to testify in court unless they are exempted. A witness is exempted from the duty to testify in court if their testimony is likely to: • expose the witness to self-harm or loss of well- being; 5. Discovery 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases
267 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook