NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Christian Reusch, Jenny Sandvig, Oda Lauksund Engamo and Therese Sætre Løfsgaard, Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig
4. Pre-Trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
tive discussion. These conditions are usually called procedural requirements/dispositive motions. If a procedural requirement is missing, the case must be dismissed. The procedural requirements can be divided into general and special procedural conditions. “General” procedural requirements apply to all lawsuits that are not specifically excepted, while “special” procedural requirements only apply in specified case types or only between certain parties. The general procedural requirements are as follows: • Both parties must have capacity to sue and be sued, and have procedural capacity. • The case must fall under Norwegian judicial com- petence and be brought before a court that has substantive, territorial and functional competence. • Unless otherwise provided by statute, the sub- ject of the lawsuit must be a legal claim, and the parties’ connection to this and the relationship between the parties must be such that the plaintiff has a genuine need to obtain a judgment against the defendant (“legal interest”). • The legal claim that constitutes the subject matter in dispute cannot already be settled by a final and enforceable judgment, nor can another case about the same legal claim be pending before the courts (litis pendens). • Anyone who has filed a lawsuit or declared a legal remedy must attend the court hearings specified; the case shall be rejected if the complainant fails to attend and there are no grounds to believe that they are lawfully absent. • There are also requirements regarding the content and form of complaints to the conciliation board, the writ of summons and legal remedy declara- tions. Examples of special procedural requirements include time limits for lawsuits and foreign plaintiffs’ duty to provide security for liability for legal costs. 4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit Interested parties may join a lawsuit through the rules of third-party intervention, in a support action for a
As legal proceedings take time, there is a risk that the defendant, in the meantime, will dispose of the subject matter of the case, and thus make it impos- sible or substantially more difficult to enforce the claim. There may also be a need to obtain a temporary arrangement between the parties during the dispute. To accommodate the claimant’s need to ensure future enforcement or a temporary arrangement, the Nor- wegian legislation gives access to strike preliminary decisions before trial. Pecuniary claims can be secured by a garnishee order/an arrest, while other claims may be secured by temporary precautionary measures. Upon a gar- nishee order, the debtor loses the right to dispose of the arrested assets to the disadvantage of the claim- ant. With a temporary injunction, the defendant shall usually omit, undertake or tolerate an act. 4.2 Early Judgment Applications Before trial, a party can apply for early judgment for proven claims if there are grounds for provisional security, and if the damage or inconvenience caused to the defendant is not clearly disproportionate to the interest the plaintiff has in an injunction being decided. When a district court has to decide on an applica- tion for provisional security, an oral hearing is normally held. At the same time as the court tries the application for provisional security, it can also hear the main claim if one of the parties demands it. A party can involve the main/primary claim for simultaneous adjudication if it is justifiable without further case preparation and will not delay the decision on the claim sought to be secured through a preliminary decision. This can hap- pen without mediation by a conciliation board and will thus result in a quick court procedure. However, the court is quite free to refuse such simultaneous adju- dication. 4.3 Dispositive Motions The procedural legislation sets out several conditions for the courts to be able to take a case into substan-
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