LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Moritz Blasy, Nicolai Binkert, Simon Ott and Kathrin Binder, Schurti Partners Attorneys at Law Ltd
Because Acts of the European Union only apply to EU member states, the Brussels Ia Regula- tion is not applicable in Liechtenstein. Also, while Liechtenstein is a member of the European Free Trade Association together with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, it is not a party to the Lugano Convention 2007. 3.4 Initial Complaint As a rule, a lawsuit is initiated by means of a writ - ten statement of claim, which is to be filed with the District Court. In the statement of claim, the claimant must clearly identify the parties, their procedural roles (ie, claimant or defendant), their representatives (if any) and the subject matter of the lawsuit. Claimants must include in their statement of claim a pleading of the facts on which they are relying, the evidence upon which they intend to rely, and the remedy for which they are asking. Once the defendant has been served with the statement of claim, the factual basis of the claim and the remedy sought may only be modified with the consent of the defendant or with the approval of the court, which will be granted if the court concludes that no significant complication or delay of the matter is to be expected as a result of the amendment. However, the plead- ing of new facts and the introduction of new evidence supporting the claim are, in principle, admissible throughout the whole procedure at first instance, unless the court concludes that such new facts or evidence were not introduced earlier out of gross negligence and if their admis- sion would significantly delay matters. A claimant may abandon a lawsuit without waiv- ing the underlying (substantive) claim only prior to the first hearing or, if the defendant does not appear, at the first hearing itself, at the latest. Thereafter, an abandonment of the lawsuit by the
claimant will constitute a waiver of the underly- ing (substantive) claim unless the counterparty expressly agrees otherwise. If a claim is declared withdrawn by the court for failure of the claimant to lodge security for costs, this is not considered abandonment within the aforementioned sense and, hence, does not constitute a waiver of the underlying claim. 3.5 Rules of Service It is the responsibility of the court to serve the statement of claim on the defendant. The court will do so once all formal requirements are ful- filled, and the claimant has paid the court fees. Service in Liechtenstein is usually done by registered mail with return receipt. Service on parties outside the jurisdiction is usually done through diplomatic channels or via letters roga- tory. Parties domiciled abroad can be ordered by the court to appoint an authorised recipient in Liechtenstein, failing which service on them can be effected by depositing the relevant document with the court. 3.6 Failure to Respond If a defendant fails to appear at the first hearing despite having been properly served with the summons, the claimant may apply for a default judgment. The court will enter judgment in favour of the claimant if the presented evidence does not obviously contradict the facts pleaded in the statement of claim and if the pleaded facts support the remedy sought. Significantly, written submissions of the defendant submitted prior to the first hearing must not be taken into consid- eration by the court. A default judgment can be attacked in two ways, such as: • by means of an appeal to the Court of Appeal; or
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