PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Rita Samoreno Gomes and Petra Carreira, PLMJ
4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit Interested parties not named as plaintiff or defendant may join a lawsuit in different situa- tions and through different procedures. Joinder as Plaintiff or Defendant (Intervenção Principal) When the interested party has the same inter- est in the lawsuit as the plaintiff or defendant, it may apply to join the lawsuit as a plaintiff or defendant, as appropriate. In this case, the join- ing party may submit its own pleading, which is only allowed up to the end of the pleadings stage, or may adopt the existing claim/defence filed by the original parties at any time before the judgment is rendered by the court. Assistance (Assistência) If the interested party holds an interest in the decision of the claim being favourable to one of the parties, it can apply to join the case by assuming the position of assistant. The assistant may join the case at any time before a judgment is rendered by means of an ad hoc application or by lodging a claim/defence (if the assisted party is also in due time to lodge a claim or a defence). Opposition (Oposição) If the interested party claims to have a right that is fully or partially incompatible with the right invoked by the plaintiff in a lawsuit between two or more parties, it can apply to join the case to assume the position of opponent. The opponent may join the case before the trial is scheduled or before a judgment is rendered by the court if the trial has already been scheduled. To that end, it must file a claim that meets the legal require- ments for the plaintiff’s initial complaint.
the matter) and a success fee depending on the results obtained.
4. Pre-trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
Under Portuguese law, there are no interim applications/motions before trials or substantive hearings of a claim. 4.2 Early Judgment Applications There is no specific procedure for the parties to apply for early judgment on some or all the issues in dispute, nor for the other party’s case to be struck out before trial or substantive hear- ing of the claim. The parties usually make such applications in their pleadings or submissions made during the proceedings as a result of the arguments put forward. As a rule, the judgment is rendered at the end of the case, after the taking of evidence at trial, and covers procedural and substantive matters. The court may nonetheless make an advance ruling on one or more procedural matters, or even decide the merits of the case (either par- tially or fully), if it considers it unnecessary to produce any additional evidence on the matter being decided. 4.3 Dispositive Motions The parties cannot make formal and autono- mous dispositive motions with the court before the trial. However, defendants rarely present arguments in their pleadings and submissions for the case to be dismissed or disposed by the court without the need for a trial hearing.
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