SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Arvmyren, Christopher Stridh and Mikaela Tysk, Delphi
the court in a consent judgment, there will be no confidentiality since judgments become avail- able to the public. 8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements If a settlement has been confirmed by court, it constitutes an enforceable judgment. This means that the parties may use the judgment to seek enforcement if the other party omits to fulfil the settlement and judgment. If the settlement is not confirmed by a court, it is regarded as an ordinary agreement between the parties and thus does not constitute an enforce- able judgment. See, however, also the possibility to achieve enforceability through Article 6 of the Mediation Directive (2008/52/EC) incorporated by Sections 7–12 of the Swedish Mediation Act. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements A settlement that has been confirmed by a court in a judgment is final and cannot be set aside unless one of the parties successfully appeals against the judgment due to a procedural error (which is extremely rare). A settlement that has not been confirmed by a court is binding on the parties in the same way as any other agreement. Whether or not a set- tlement agreement can be set aside due to inva- lidity is a contractual issue and not subject to procedural rules. 9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant There are two different forms of awards or judg- ments in Swedish law for a successful litigant.
First, there are judgments that oblige a party to perform or refrain from performing something (see Chapter 13, Section 1 of the Procedural Code). Such judgments are enforceable by the Swedish Enforcement Authority. Second, there are declaratory judgments, which determine or establish the existence or the content of a legal relationship (see Chapter 13, Section 2 of the Procedural Code). These are non-enforceable. 9.2 Rules Regarding Damages Damages may be awarded, among other things, due to breach of contract or in torts in accord- ance with the Swedish Tort Law Act, but also in numerous other instances. Damages may only be awarded if the plaintiff can present sufficient evidence to prove the amount of the damage. However, if it is impossible to prove the damage in spite of the plaintiff having done all that could be reasonably expected to prove the damage, the court may assess the damage on the basis of reasonability (see Chapter 35, Section 5 of the Procedural Code). The statute of limitation for a claim for damages is ten years except for claims against consum- ers, where the statute of limitation is three years. Punitive damages are not available in Sweden. 9.3 Pre-judgment and Post-judgment Interest General provisions regarding interest are found in the Swedish Interest Act, and rules regarding interest are not considered to be of a procedur- al nature except for interest awarded on cost, which also refer to the Interest Act. Interest on cost accrues from the day of the judgment. Interest on a claim shall be paid from the day the claim is due for payment. If a fixed due date is not agreed on, the claim falls due for payment no
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