SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henriquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Pedro Echeguren, Lopez-Ibor DPM
• The statute for actions based on a tort is one year of the claimant becoming aware of the damages caused. The second type of statute of limitations applica- ble to civil actions may not be interrupted ( cadu- cidad ). This is the case with: • actions relating to the enforcement of final judgments or awards (five-year period from the date of judgment); • actions to amend or terminate contracts due to vices in the consent (four-year period); or • claims brought to the courts within an exist- ing proceeding (a two-year period if there has been no procedural activity at first instance level, and a one-year period at higher levels). In addition, under Spanish law, special legisla- tion can contain its own limitations. For exam- ple, Section 205 of the Capital Companies Act establishes a one-year time limit for challenging company resolutions. In the same way, Section 140 of the Intellectual Property Act grants the holder a period of five years to claim damages for infringed rights. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant The SCPA requires a defendant to have the capacity to be a party and the condition of being a legitimate party to the proceeding. Section 6 of the SCPA determines that the fol- lowing may be parties to the proceedings before civil courts: • natural persons; • legal persons; • an estate or separated estate which tempo- rarily lacks an owner or the owner of which
has been deprived of disposition and admin- istration powers; and • entities lacking legal personality, recognised by the law as having the capacity to be a party. Legitimate parties are those that appear and act in court as parties to the judicial relationship or Civil lawsuits are initiated by means of a written claim ( demanda ), signed by the lawyer and the court agent, which must express with clarity and precision the court at which it is addressed, the facts, the legal grounds on which it is based, as well as the relief sought. The claim must also include all related documen- tation that is either known or should be known at the time it is filed. In this regard, no further docu- ments may be added at a later stage, except where these documents are from a later date or could not be provided by the party at the time the claim was filed. However, the plaintiff may, at the preliminary hearing or at the trial proceed- ings, submit relevant evidence relating to the merits of the case, following allegations made by the defendant in their defence. the matter in dispute. 3.4 Initial Complaint The claim can be amended in the sense of modi- fying the relief sought or the defendants at which it is aimed until the opposition is filed. Once this opposition has been filed, the plaintiff may only clarify aspects that are not entirely comprehen- sible or include complementary allegations. 3.5 Rules of Service As a rule, once the claim has been filed and admitted for processing, the court manages its serving on and notification to the defendant to the address specified by the claimant. The
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