LEBANON Law and Practice Contributed by: Nayla Comair-Obeid, Ziad Obeid and Zeina Obeid, Obeid & Partners
4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit The LCCP provides for the possibility of joining a third party or the intervention of a third party. The third party thus becomes a party to the proceed- ings (Articles 36 et seq of the LCCP). Article 38 of the LCCP provides that any party to the trial may request the joinder of a third party to hear the judgment, or to condemn it with respect to claims similar to those of one of the parties, or for warranty purposes. As to the procedure, a third party is joined or is involved in the proceedings on the submis- sion of a reasoned request before the court. This request is then notified to the interested third party. The intervening party, or the party to be joined, must have a personal and legitimate legal interest in the action (Article 40 of the LCCP). The intervention or joinder is permitted at any time during the proceedings up until its conclusion. It is allowed before the court of first instance and the court of appeal. The court shall rule on such requests, and if it will authorise a third party to join a lawsuit. It is also possible for the court, at its own initia- tive, to join a third party to the proceedings if it deems that this joinder would facilitate resolving the matter, help reveal the truth, and protect the rights of the parties or one of them, or the rights of the person to be joined. In this context, the court clerk must notify the third party of the join- der decision. The court may require each party to notify the third party with their documents and set a deadline for the third party to respond. However, the failure to join a particular party does not preclude a litigant third party from bringing the same or similar claims against that party.
4.5 Applications for Security for Defendant’s Costs This is not applicable in this jurisdiction. 4.6 Costs of Interim Applications/ Motions The judge may grant the interim application in consideration of a guarantee. The LCCP does not provide further details as to the costs. In practice, the costs are subject to the court’s discretion. In general, the losing party incurs the costs of the proceedings only in relation to judicial costs. The court will generally not rule on attorney fees. 4.7 Application/Motion Timeframe The LCCP does not explicitly provide a time- frame for a court to deal with an interim appli- cation. However, Article 583 of the LCCP states that the judge of summary proceedings, who is competent to look into applications, shall ren- der the decision without delay. Pursuant to Arti- cle 455 of the LCCP, the court may shorten the deadlines for the exchange of submissions in cases that require urgency. The Lebanese law does not provide for a con- cept equivalent to that of discovery in common law countries. Each party shall submit, at once, all the evidence that they rely upon for each claim. The court may, on its own initiative, order any investigation to supplement the evidence sub- mitted by the parties. Additionally, refer to 5.4 Alternatives to Discov- ery Mechanisms . 5. Discovery 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases
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