NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Knud Jacob Knudsen, Jenny Sandvig, Oda Lauksund Engamo and Nicholas Foss Barbantonis, Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig
6.2 Arrangements for Obtaining Urgent Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief can be obtained quickly if the circumstances are urgent; how long it takes depends on the urgency of the need for the injunction. Normally, if the respondent is to be notified and given the opportunity to be present, it will take a couple of weeks from the time the application for an injunction is delivered to the court. In any case, it is a clear prerequisite that the decision must be made quickly. 6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis Injunctive relief can be obtained without notice to the respondent and without the respondent being present. The main rule is nevertheless the opposite: the parties should be given the opportunity to present their opinion on the mat- ter before the court makes a decision on whether to award injunctive relief. There is only access to obtain the injunctive relief without notice to the respondent and without the respondent present where there is “danger” in waiting. If this criterion is met, the court can award injunctive relief ex parte. In general, this condition will be met where there is a risk that the main claim otherwise cannot be secured. 6.4 Liability for Damages for the Applicant The applicant can be held liable for damages suffered by the respondent if the respondent later successfully discharges the injunction. There is a fairly strict objective liability for dam- ages in cases where the injunction is revoked or lapses, and it turns out that the plaintiff’s claim (the main claim) did not exist when the injunction was decided.
The applicant can be required to provide security for potential damages. The court decides wheth- er the applicant is required to provide security. In situations where the injunction is obtained on an ex parte basis, this will be relevant to include in the assessment of whether security should be required. If it has been decided that security must be provided, the injunction does not come into force before the security has been set. 6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief cannot be granted against world- wide assets of the respondent. 6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief can be obtained against third parties in the sense that third parties may be affected by the injunction. In such cases, the third party has the right to intervene in the case. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non-compliance The consequence of a respondent failing to comply with the terms of an injunction is that the injunction can be enforced in accordance with the Enforcement Act. This may involve the implementation of measures to ensure that the respondent complies with the injunction. 7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings In Norway, civil trials are primarily, and as a main rule, conducted through oral proceedings. As a general rule for regular proceedings, the court rules on the subject matter of the action following oral proceedings at a main hearing. Oral hearing is also the main rule for the small claim procedure and in the case of appeals.
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