SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Arvmyren, Christopher Stridh and Mikaela Tysk, Delphi
2.7 Time Limit for Obtaining Third-Party Funding There are no time limits with regard to when a party to a litigation should obtain the funding from a third party.
The Limitation Act covers claims based on a contract (deviations from it may be agreed) as well as non-contractual claims (such as dam- ages). For claims against consumers, the time period is three years. The Limitation Act does not cover property rights claims, such as rights of ownership, right of retention, right of use, etc. The period of limitation can be renewed before it has passed through a notice to the debtor, through initiating legal proceedings or if the debtor acknowledges the debt. In addition to the main rule described above, there are numerous specific statutes govern- ing the limitation period in different situations. These limitation periods are normally shorter and are relevant, for instance, in relation to sale of goods, employment law claims and in insolven- cy proceedings. Regarding contractual claims, a creditor who is aware of a claim and remains passive may also lose the right to bring forward the claim. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant The main rule is that the district court where a defendant is domiciled has jurisdiction (Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Procedural Code). For legal entities, the domicile is the registered seat of the legal entity. The main rule applies also for law- suits against a government authority, the state or a municipality. If a person (or legal entity) is not domiciled in Sweden, a Swedish court may still seize jurisdic- tion if the dispute concerns real property located in Sweden. Similarly, a Swedish district court may seize jurisdiction if a person (or legal entity) has other assets within the court’s domicile. However, it is not certain that the court would accept jurisdiction, and the defendant may suc- cessfully argue that the Swedish court would not
3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-action Conduct
There are no mandatory pre-action require- ments in Swedish law under the Procedural Code or otherwise. Accordingly, a plaintiff may sue the respondent without giving any notice. It is, however, customary for a plaintiff to notify a prospective defendant before initiating proceed- ings. If the plaintiff does not notify the potential defendant before initiating proceedings and the defendant concedes and complies with relief sought, the court may order the plaintiff to bear the defendant’s costs for litigation, Chapter 18, Section 3 of the Procedural Code. Furthermore, according to Section 5.2.1 of the Swedish Bar Association’s Code of Conduct, an Advokat is obliged to notify the counterparty before initiating legal proceedings. This obliga- tion does not apply if there are compelling rea- sons not to notify the counterparty, for instance that the matter is urgent or that a time limit is about to lapse. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations The main rule under the Swedish Act on Statutes of Limitation (the “Limitation Act”) is that a claim is time-barred when ten years has passed from the occurrence of the debt (ie, the event giving rise to the claim). Determining the starting date is unfortunately complex and there is no simple rule to apply.
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