Pre-trial dispute resolution in Kyiv

Settlement of disputes in pre-trial proceedings implies that the parties will be able to resolve the problem themselves and voluntarily. The chances of settling a dispute out of court increase several times if you seek the assistance of a professional lawyer or attorney.

Relations between participants in civil proceedings are regulated by written or oral agreements. In the event of a conflict, before going to court, the parties should conduct negotiations and try to resolve the situation amicably within the framework of contractual relations.

The party whose rights are violated must send a claim to the defendant. The recipient must respond to the accusations: either admit fault, or dispute the stated facts, and put forward its own terms for resolving the dispute. If the plaintiff is not satisfied with the received response, he has the right to file an application with the court.

The Commercial Procedural Code of Ukraine (Section 2) regulates pre-trial settlement of commercial disputes. Participants in contractual relations take pre-trial measures regarding performance of contractual obligations: supply of materials, performance of works, services, labor disputes, civil conflicts, issues concerning land relations, family disagreements.

Disputes that cannot be settled pre-trial include:

• recognition of contracts as invalid;
• acts of state bodies whose requirements do not comply with Ukrainian legislation and violate the interests of legal and natural persons;
• payment of debts on protested bills of exchange;
• recovery of penalties imposed by the NBU from financial institutions;
• confiscation of pledged property.

The claim-based dispute settlement procedure may be either mandatory or voluntary. In particular, the Commercial Procedural Code obliges an enterprise to present a claim to its counterparty. If the counterparty ignores the claim or refuses to satisfy certain demands, one month after filing the claim the legal entity may file a lawsuit in the Commercial Court. The obligation of the parties to resolve disputes via the claim procedure can also be stipulated in the contract.

If the obligation to settle a dispute pre-trial is not prescribed by law or by contract, it depends on the situation. But in any case it is still better to try to resolve the dispute without going to court. According to Article 6 of the Commercial Procedural Code, the claim must contain the following information:

1. Name and address of the applicant.
2. Name of the legal (natural) person to whom the claim is presented, and its postal details.
3. Date of the claim.
4. Grounds for presenting the claim: facts and evidence of breach of contractual relations.
5. Provisions of legislation that have been violated.
6. Applicant’s demands and the amount of the claim.
7. List of documents that the applicant attaches to the claim.

Resolving a conflict pre-trial is a less troublesome and less costly process than litigation. Filing a lawsuit requires payment of a court fee. For representation of interests, one must hire an attorney. The fee amounts to 2% of the claim amount, but not less than 1.5 times the minimum wage and not more than 60 minimum wages.

The court considers a claim for at least 2-3 months. If the defendant wishes to challenge the court decision afterward, they have the right to file an appeal.

To resolve a dispute pre-trial, it is sufficient to hire a qualified lawyer, properly draft the claim, and control its delivery and the defendant’s response.

According to the procedure for submitting claims, the application must contain all necessary data and information. Provided copies must be officially certified. If the applicant demands monetary compensation, a payment order with the recipient’s bank details is attached.

A claim from an individual is signed personally by the applicant; from a legal entity — by the head of the organization. The letter is sent by mail with notification, or handed over personally with a receipt of delivery.

The defendant may consider the claim within one month from the date of receipt. If documents are not attached to the claim, the period is extended by 5 days for their submission.

The defendant must satisfy fair claims or refute them. To do this, they have the right to conduct appropriate examinations, quality control, verify calculations, and carry out other actions to check the grounds of the claim.

The results of consideration of the claim are sent by the defendant in a letter, indicating in the response:

• the number and date of the claim;
• the name and postal details of the plaintiff and the defendant;
• a decision on full or partial acknowledgment of the damage;
• the date of satisfaction of the stated demands;
• in case of refusal to satisfy the demands, the grounds for rejecting the claim, references to regulatory documents;
• list of attached documents.

If one of the parties violated the pre-trial dispute resolution procedure, the other has the right not to respond to the claim. If the response is not received within the specified period, the interested party has the right to file an application with the court.

The most common mistakes in claim correspondence:

• arbitrary drafting of the claim without necessary information;
• absence of information about the contract in relation to which the dispute arose;
• inaccurate description of the conflict situation;
• documents referenced in the letter are not attached;
• the plaintiff’s demands are not properly formulated;
• no confirmation of delivery of the claim and attached documents.

The plaintiff cannot go to court before the expiration of the period for the second party to consider the claim.

Services provided by our specialists

Our lawyers can draft a claim according to all rules, strictly complying with all legal requirements and referring to specific legal norms. We can not only draft but also serve such a document on your opponent, calculate the amount of penalties, damages, fines or interest. By contacting the legal company Nakaz, clients receive qualified assistance and support at all stages of pre-trial dispute resolution.