NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Knud Jacob Knudsen, Jenny Sandvig, Oda Lauksund Engamo and Nicholas Foss Barbantonis, Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig
4. Pre-trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
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
As legal proceedings take time, there is a risk that the defendant, in the meantime, will dis - pose of the subject matter of the case, and thus make it impossible 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 Norwegian leg- islation gives access to strike preliminary deci- sions before trial. Pecuniary claims can be secured by a garnish- ee order/an arrest, while other claims may be secured by temporary precautionary measures. Upon a garnishee order, the debtor loses the right to dispose of the arrested assets to the disadvantage of the claimant. With a tempo- rary 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 pro- visional security, and if the damage or incon- venience 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 appli- cation for provisional security, an oral hearing is normally held. At the same time as the court tries the appli- cation 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 with- out further case preparation and will not delay
simultaneous adjudication. 4.3 Dispositive Motions
The procedural legislation sets out several con- ditions for the courts to be able to take a case into substantive discussion. These conditions are usually called procedural requirements/dis- positive 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 fol- lows: • Both parties must have capacity to sue and be sued, and have procedural capacity. • The case must fall under Norwegian judicial competence and be brought before a court that has substantive, territorial and functional competence. • If there is no special statutory authority for otherwise, the subject 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 genu- ine 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
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