Litigation 2025

AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl, Katrin Hanschitz, Dr Kirstin McGoldrick and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL HAUGENEDER NETAL GmbH

4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit Legal Interest A third party may join the proceedings on the side of the plaintiff or defendant if it has a legal interest in the success of that party. Legal inter- est is established if the decision will have a legal effect on the third party’s position (eg, an insurer may join proceedings of an insured party against In practical terms, a joinder is effected by writ- ten application of the third party that must be granted by the court. Admission of the joinder may be opposed by the parties, but this opposi- tion can be overruled by the court. A third party may join the proceedings at any stage, even in appeal proceedings, up to the moment when the judgment becomes final. 4.5 Applications for Security for Defendant’s Costs If a foreign plaintiff is not an EU national and does not have domicile within the EU, the defendant may, in many cases, request an order compelling the plaintiff to secure the defendant’s costs (the same applies for parties that do not have a seat within the EU). No order for security is granted in these cases if: • it would be contrary to certain bilateral or international conventions; • a cost award could be enforced in the country the damaging party). Procedural Aspects where the plaintiff has its domicile/seat; or • the plaintiff has sufficient assets in the form of immovable property or registered rights in rem.

for dismissal, such as lack of jurisdiction or improper venue. Also, interim and partial judgments are possible, but only during the main proceedings. Time-Barred Claims An important example of a pre-trial dispositive motion is one in which a party requests an early dismissal because the claim is time-barred. If a claim is time-barred, the court may decide only this question without going into the merits of the matter. Early Judgments on Procedural Grounds Usually, a defence on procedural grounds must be raised before pleading on the merits of the case. A significant number of procedural grounds are disregarded by the court if raised at a later time. Some very severe procedural defects can also be raised at a later stage or can be observed by the court on its own without a motion. For example, directly after receiving the claim, the court must determine and verify its jurisdiction a limine, even before service of the claim on the defendant. If the court lacks jurisdiction, the claim is dismissed immediately – before trial. 4.3 Dispositive Motions The trial begins with a preparatory hearing. Most of the dispositive motions are brought before- hand and are discussed in such a hearing. They may be based on procedural grounds such as failure of jurisdiction or improper venue, or on substantive grounds such as the claim being time-barred or the “inconclusiveness” of the complaint. A claim can be dismissed by the court during this first preparatory hearing, at which point no evidence will have been taken.

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