DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas Norvold, Søren Locher, Anne Mie Lund and Pawel Weigel, Fabritius Tengnagel & Heine
7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge In civil lawsuits, the level of intervention by a judge is normally limited. As described in 7.4 Rules That Govern Admission of Evidence , the court can ask question to the parties if their claim, arguments or statement are unclear, and the court may encourage a party to state their position on both factual and legal issues that appear to be relevant to the case – or request a party to submit documents, inspections or expert assessments. Although there is legal basis for such intervention, it rarely occurs in practice, as the court will normally assess the case based on the arguments and evidence pre- sented by the parties. 7.8 General Timeframes for Proceedings In 2023, the average processing time for civil cases in district courts was 13 months, reflecting an increase of 0.2 months compared to 2022. In the high courts, the average processing time for first-instance civil cases was 37.6 months in 2023, an increase of 9 months compared to 2022. Civil appeal cases had an average pro- cessing time of 9.8 months. The average processing time for civil appeal cases in the Supreme Court was 12.2 months in 2023, representing a decrease of 0.6 months compared to 2022. The average processing time for civil cases is expected to decrease in the coming years due to a political agreement regarding the judici- ary’s budget for the period 2024–2027, which was reached by all political parties in the Danish Parliament on 22 November 2023 (see 14.1 Pro- posals for Dispute Resolution Reform ). The processing time may vary depending on the nature of the case, including the number of court
days required for the final hearing in court. Pro- cessing times also vary between different dis- trict courts, with courts in larger cities generally experiencing longer processing times. 8. Settlement 8.1 Court Approval Court approval is not required to settle a lawsuit; the parties can settle the case at any time. 8.2 Settlement of Lawsuits and Confidentiality The parties to a court case can settle the case by presenting a settlement before the court. Such settlement is entered into the court’s records and can be subject to requests from interested third parties for access to such documents (see 1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings ). The parties to a court case can also deicide to settle the case out of court, and then inform the court that they have settled the case. Such set- tlement will not be entered into the court records and can therefore not be subject to requests from interested third parties for access to docu- ments. 8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements Settlements that are entered into court records are (directly) enforceable. Settlements that are not entered into court records are also enforceable, if: • the settlement is in writing; • the settlement concerns overdue debt; or • it is explicitly stipulated in the settlement that it can serve as the basis for enforcement.
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