NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Knud Jacob Knudsen, Jenny Sandvig, Oda Lauksund Engamo and Nicholas Foss Barbantonis, Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig
10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation In Norway, there are mainly three instances for court proceedings: • the first instance, consisting of the district courts; • the second instance, consisting of six courts of appeal; and • the Supreme Court. Decisions handed down by district courts can be appealed to one of the six courts of appeal. Deci- sions from the courts of appeal can be appealed to the Supreme Court. In exceptional cases, an appeal of a decision from a district court can be made directly to the Supreme Court. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments The court to which the case is appealed decides whether the appeal should be granted. Appeals to the Supreme Court are determined by the Appeals Committee of the Supreme Court. The main rule is that any decision can be appealed to a court of appeal by the parties. A decision can be appealed on the basis of errors in the assessment of the facts, the application of the law or the procedure on which the deci- sion is based. An appeal to a court of appeal can be denied if the court of appeal finds that there is a clear preponderance of probability that the appeal will not succeed (Section 29-13 of the Dispute Act). Appeals to the Supreme Court can only be granted if the appeal concerns issues that are of significance beyond the scope of the case at
hand or if it is important for other reasons that the case is decided by the Supreme Court. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal Appeals can be submitted through a notice of appeal to the court that handed down the deci- sion being appealed. The main rule is that notic- es of appeal must be in writing. The appeal must normally be submitted within one month after the parties are served the original decision. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal The appellant court can allow appeals of an entire decision, or only parts of it. The main rule is that the appellant court in a civil case can review and reconsider all aspects of the case that the appeal concerns. The appeal can nor- mally only concern claims that have been decid- ed on in the lower court. If new claims are linked to the claims already decided on and can be processed under substantially the same proce- dural rules, exceptions can be made, inter alia, if the new claims cannot be tried in a separate case, if the change of claims is related to cir- cumstances that occurred or became known so late that the claim could not have been brought into the case earlier or if the other party does not object to the inclusion of the claims. For appeals to the Supreme Court, new claims can only be included if special reasons justify such inclusion. 10.5 Court-Imposed Conditions on Granting an Appeal The court cannot impose any conditions on granting an appeal. 10.6 Powers of the Appellate Court After an Appeal Hearing The appeal is dismissed if it fails. If the appeal concerns procedure and succeeds in this respect, the appealed decision shall be set
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