Arbitration Court
Arguments mainly between corporate bodies, entrepreneurs are subject to resolution in arbitration courts. There are several steps to arbitration:
- Court of Original Jurisdiction examines the cases in substance, i.e. the initial claims. Court decision is binding 30 days after announcement, except in case of appeal.
- Court of Appeal examines appeals that have not yet become binding by law of Court of Original Jurisdiction. The verdict of Court of Original Jurisdiction becomes binding if Court of Appeal does not allow the appeal case to proceed.
- Court of Review examines review cases that have not become legally binding after Court of Original Jurisdiction and Court of Appeal. The previous courts’ resolutions could be put on hold as long as the case is in Court of Review.
- Supreme Court of RF passes a resolution in regards to changing or cancelling the previous court resolutions in special circumstances: if the law was interpreted incorrectly by previous courts, if the human rights have been violated, if the lawful rights and interests of undefined group of people or other public groups have been violated.
Arbitration process is different from other court processes, first of all, by the way of examining the evidence: usually only written evidence is accepted in court, as well as expert opinions, and sometimes real evidence; in rare cases, testimonial evidence could be admitted.
As such, the chance of positive outcome depends on what kind of written evidence is available. Nevertheless, absence of some of the written evidence does not necessarily mean that arbitration is impossible. Some documents could be restored or replaced by other direct evidence or indirect evidence if correctly identified, located, and well presented in court – which all depends on strong representation by legal expert.
Also, the timing of the court proceedings are generally shorter in arbitration. For example, at the end of 2008, arbitration took on average 3 months; resolution by Court of Appeal could take 1.5-2.5 months; and resolution in Court of Review – 1.5 months. Today it takes a little longer due to increased number of cases after the economic crisis hit. Debt collection, including bank recollections from companies and individuals as well as bankruptcies also contributed to increased number of cases.
Today, most of companies and individuals do not question the need to have their rights protected in court; in contrary, more and more people go to court even when the chance of successful outcome is minimal.
Note that it is a proven fact that the earlier you go to court for protection, the better the chance of positive result.
At Legal centre INDEPENDENCE our specialists have extensive track record of successful representation in arbitration courts and we will be glad to provide legal assistance and represent your interests in arbitration courts, including all the geographic regions of Russia.