ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cosmin Vasile and Alina Tugearu, Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners Attorneys At Law
During the judicial inquiry, the court settles all pre- liminary matters, such as jurisdiction, payment of the stamp fee, admissibility of the claim, etc. Subsequent- ly, the parties submit the proposed evidence to the court’s attention, and it is then administered according to the court’s ruling. The judicial inquiry is followed by the debates, during which each party states its case and considers the evidence that has previously been administered. At the end of the oral debates, the court may instruct the parties to submit written briefs, or the parties may do so in the absence of the court’s instruction. The next phase of civil proceedings is the issuance of the judgment, which may be succeeded by the legal means of appeal or by the enforcement procedure. The duration of the trial is largely dependent on the complexity of the case, the means of evidence to be administered and the preliminary aspects invoked by the parties. As such, a trial in the first tier of jurisdic- tion may last from a matter of months to several years. When settling a lawsuit, if the parties wish the court to approve their settlement, they need to request the court to issue a ruling acknowledging that settlement. The settlement must be concluded in written form and will form the solution part of the ruling. 8.2 Settlement of Lawsuits and Confidentiality The settlement of a lawsuit may remain confidential if the parties agree not to present the settlement agree- ment to the judge, and request that the judge closes the case by acknowledging a waiver of the claim or of the right claimed instead. 8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements If the settlement is acknowledged in an authenticated agreement or a court ruling, the party in default may be obliged to fulfil its obligations deriving from the set- tlement with the assistance of an enforcement officer (bailiff). 8. Settlement 8.1 Court Approval
If the settlement takes the form of a written agreement, not authenticated, the damaged party needs to file a claim against the other party to the settlement agree- ment in order to have the court ascertain the breach of the obligations within the settlement agreement and compel the latter to cover the damages incurred; after obtaining this court decision, it may enforce it through an enforcement officer. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements The parties to a settlement agreement may seek annulment of the agreement if any of the conditions for the legal conclusion of an agreement have not been fulfilled (consent, capacity, object, cause, form, etc). In contrast, if a party challenges the ruling acknowl- edging the settlement agreement on procedural grounds only, it will need to file a second appeal with the superior court. 9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant According to the parties’ claims, the court may grant compensatory or punitive damages and legal or con- tractual interest, as well as judicial expenses. 9.2 Rules Regarding Damages Punitive damages are available in the case of obser- vance of the debtor’s fault. There are no provisions limiting the maximum amount of damages that may be awarded to a party. Interest is payable upon request. Its amount is estab- lished previously by the parties or, in the absence of an agreement, the legal interest rate applies. 9.3 Pre-Judgment and Post-Judgment Interest The successful party may be able to collect interest from the moment the other party was summoned to comply with its obligations if the summons has been sought by law, or from the moment the other party failed to comply with its (generally contractual) obli- gations if the summoning was not required by law (subject to the statute of limitations). It is possible for
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