FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Marja Norrena, Maija Ahtiainen and Valmari Keskimäki, Lieke Attorneys Ltd
appear in court, or the court may dismiss the case at the preliminary stage if the claim is clearly unfounded (see 3.6 Failure to Respond ). The court may also decide various interim applications before the main hearing, sometimes without hearing the opposing party (see 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions and 6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis ). Furthermore, the court may render a separate par- tial judgment on an independent claim where several claims have been made in the same case, or it may decide an admitted part of a claim separately. A par- tial judgment enables a party to obtain an enforce- able decision on part of the claims more quickly than resolving the rest of the case. Furthermore, if a decision on an action depends on a decision on another action being considered in the same proceedings, the court may decide the latter action separately by first rendering an intermediate judgment. At the request of a party, the court may also decide an issue relating to the same claim by an intermediate judgment if the resolution of this issue is a prerequisite for deciding the claim in other respects. In this case, an intermediate judgment may only be rendered against the will of the opposing party for a special reason. Intermediate judgment can be useful, for example, in damages cases where liability can be established before the amount of damages is deter- mined. Intermediate and partial judgments are generally only issued once the parties have had the opportunity to present their cases on the claims or issues that are going to be decided by a partial or intermediate judg- ment. Depending on the case, this may happen at a hearing concerning only those claims or issues, or in a written proceedings if a hearing is not deemed necessary in order to decide the issues subject to the partial or intermediate judgment. 4.3 Dispositive Motions A party may raise a procedural objection before trial, if they consider that a procedural prerequisite is lack- ing. Such an objection may concern, for example, the existence of res judicata or lis pendens, the jurisdic- tion of the court, or the right of action as the proper
party. If accepted, a procedural objection may result in the claim being struck out before the main hearing. A procedural objection must be raised when the defendant first exercises their right to be heard in the case. Furthermore, all procedural objections should be raised together, if possible. If a procedural objec- tion is raised later, it will not be considered unless it concerns a mandatory procedural prerequisite – ie, a matter that the court is obliged to take into account of its own accord. For example, objection to the jurisdic- tion of the court based on the existence of an arbi- tration agreement cannot be raised successfully at a later stage. 4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit In Finland, it is possible for interested third parties to join lawsuits under a procedural concept known as intervention, provided that certain conditions are met. There are two legal avenues through which interven- tion may occur. Firstly, a third party who brings a claim concerning the same subject matter as the original action, against one or both of the original parties, may request that their claim be adjudicated jointly with the original action. The substantive prerequisite for this type of inter- vention is that the third party claims that their rights regarding the subject of the dispute take precedence over those of the original parties. The claim must be brought to the same District Court where the original proceedings are taking place before those proceed- ings have been concluded. Secondly, if the third party does not wish to bring their own suit in the matter, they may participate in the proceedings as an intervener, supporting either party, provided they can claim that the matter concerns their rights and provide plausible reasons in support of this claim. In this case, the intervening party may act as a party in the proceedings, but will not automatically become one. The intervening party cannot amend the action or take measures that contradict those taken by a party, nor can they appeal a judgment or decision except alongside with a party. However, they may assume the
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