ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cosmin Vasile and Alina Tugearu, Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners Attorneys At Law
4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit There are several possibilities for a third party to join ongoing civil proceedings, either voluntarily or com- pulsorily. A third party bearing an interest can voluntarily join an ongoing procedure, either to support one of the par- ties’ positions (accessory joinder claim) or to settle its own right in connection with the ongoing procedure (main joinder claim). Another situation in which a third party can join an ongoing procedure is a forced joinder, by means of which any party, including someone who has filed a main joinder claim, can request participation in the proceedings of a third party that can claim the same rights as the claimant. A party in an ongoing procedure may also file a forced guarantee joinder against a third party that may be held liable through a separate claim, with regard to the main claim. When a defendant is holding an asset for another or exercising a right in the name of another, issued in connection with an in rem right, the defendant may indicate the person on whose behalf it is holding the asset or exercising the right by means of a joinder claim against a third party. There are also several cases in which the court may order a joinder, even in the absence of the parties’ consent. 4.5 Applications for Security for Defendant’s Costs Applications for an order that the claimant pay a sum of money as security for the defendant’s costs are not regulated under Romanian law. 4.6 Costs of Interim Applications/Motions There are no provisions governing the manner in which the court will order the parties to cover the costs of liti- gation in interim applications/motions. Given the time- frame of such applications (namely, before the hearing of the claim or even before the trial), the court will not order costs for such applications when deciding
on the interim applications themselves but will take such costs into account when ordering all the costs accrued at the end of the trial. 4.7 Application/Motion Timeframe Under the general rules of civil procedure, following the registration of the action or claim, a preliminary written procedure takes place solely between the court and the claimant, during which the court makes sure that the claim complies with all the mandatory conditions regarding its contents and that the claim- ant has filed all the necessary documents that need to be attached to the claim. The court proceeds to communicate the claim to the defendant only after the claim has fulfilled all formal conditions, accompanied by a note obliging the defendant to submit a state- ment of defence within (a general term of) 25 days from the communication of the claim. The statement of defence will thereafter immediately be communi- cated to the claimant, accompanied by a note obliging them to submit an answer to the statement of defence within ten days from the communication of the state- ment of defence. Within three days of the submission of the answer to the statement of defence, the judge establishes the first court hearing, which will be no later than 60 days from this date. Urgent Applications In urgent matters and applications for interim meas- ures, the preliminary written procedure between the court and the claimant, aimed at ensuring the claim fulfils all formal conditions, might not take place. The terms for filing the written submissions may be reduced in urgent matters, and the terms for setting the hear- ings may also be reduced by the judge, according to the circumstances of each matter. Sometimes, filing a statement of defence is not mandatory – for example, in an application for provisional orders. In other cases, the judge may issue a ruling on a freezing injunction or on a provisional measures application without com- municating the claim to the defendant and without hearing the parties, based only on the application and the evidence submitted by the plaintiff. Generally, the civil procedure rules provide for the urgent settlement of urgent matters.
957 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook