Complaint against a judge: samples, instances of appeal, filing procedure

Judges handle absolutely any court case, from small housing disputes to major criminal cases. These are specialists who study the case materials, consider the available evidence, order various examinations and do everything to make a fair decision on the case. The list of powers of judges is extremely long, as is the responsibility they bear.

But a judge is also a person, and he, too, can take incorrect and sometimes even illegal actions during the consideration of a case. In this regard, the question arises: “How to influence an unscrupulous judge?” Our article will tell you about when, how and where to complain about a judge.

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When is it okay to complain?

In order to file a complaint, you will need some valid reason. Moreover, this reason must be directly related to his professional duties and the case he is leading - other complaints must be filed in the standard manner, and not as complaints specifically against the judge.

The main reason for filing a complaint is violations related to the rules and procedures of business. Litigation is a process very strictly limited by law, and deviation from the norms is not only not welcomed, but can even be regarded as an extremely serious violation. So, a complaint against a judge can be filed in the following situations:

You have noticed a violation of the norms established by the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation;
The judge deliberately extends the time limit for conducting the case;
The judge's actions lead to unexpected delays in the consideration of the case;
You noticed significant deviations in the course of the proceedings from the established protocol;
The judge does not take into account any evidence, materials and testimony of witnesses directly related to the case;
The judge does not consider petitions, petitions, appeals and requests to the court related to the case;
The judge is not impartial, takes into account the opinion of only one of the parties, or is related to one of the participants in the case;
The judge has a personal advantage in deciding the case;
The judge behaves inappropriately during hearings, violates ethics and general rules of communication between participants in the case;
The judge commits violations in the process of making a judicial decision;
The judge violates the general order of conducting the case: its stages are swapped, examinations are incorrectly assigned, etc.;
The judge uses profanity and insults the participants in the case;
During the hearing, confidential protected information is disclosed by the judge.

These and many other reasons can provide very valid grounds for filing a complaint. At the same time, depending on the severity of the violation, various penalties are applied: from a simple reprimand to complete removal from the case.

How, where and why to appeal a court decision?

If the court makes a decision not in your favor, then you, as a person who disagrees, have every right to appeal it to a higher authority.

A complaint filed against a court decision is called an “Appeal.”

According to the law, from the moment the court makes its decision, you have only one month to file an appeal, but now let’s take a closer look - what does this month mean?

Some example situations:

If you, or your representative, were present at the court hearing at which the judge announced the Decision in the case, then from that date, if you want to appeal the Court Decision, you MUST draw up and file a complaint against the Court Decision within 1 month. If you miss the one-month deadline, your complaint will not be accepted for consideration and the complaint WILL BE RETURNED WITHOUT CONSIDERATION.
If you were not present at the court hearing and a decision was made in your absence, then from the moment you received the court decision or from the moment you officially (signed that you have familiarized yourself with the case, or received documents from the court by mail) you have a month to appeal it, you missed a month - the chances of the complaint being accepted are minimal, the complaint will be returned without consideration. Sometimes courts make decisions in absentia in a case - here you need to submit an Application to cancel the court decision within no more than 15 days from the date of receipt of the court decision to cancel it, skip 15 days - then only through an appeal.
If you missed the one-month deadline for appealing the court decision, then you can still file a complaint, but then you also need to draw up a Petition (request) in writing to restore the deadline for filing an appeal with reasons why the court should accept it... it’s not all there You most likely cannot do it simply and without a specialist.

In any case, if the Court Decision has been made, if you disagree with it, you must file an appeal, otherwise it will enter into legal force and you will have to obey the Judge’s Decision.

Where to complain

The court is the highest authority, and few civil servants have the authority to consider complaints against judges. Real help can only be provided by:

The leadership of the court, namely its chairman;
Qualification Board of Judges;
Prosecutor's office.

In this case, you don’t have much choice - according to current regulations, complaints should be submitted strictly in order. That is, until the court itself considers your complaint, there is no point in contacting the prosecutor’s office. Moreover, in all three cases the sample of the complaint and the method of its consideration are different.

Complaint about the inaction of a bailiff through State Services: instructions

So, you understand that you cannot do without complaints and conflict. How to competently appeal the inaction of a bailiff? You need to carry out the entire procedure through the State Services portal. Through this website you can use the “Personal Account of a Party to Enforcement Proceedings” service.

The only thing you will need at the initial stage is to undergo identity verification in a unified identification system. You can also undergo confirmation by receiving an enhanced qualified signature key - EDS.

What needs to be done for this:

Go to your personal account page: lk.fssprus.ru and log in there.
Specify your login and password.
Next, find the “submit application” button.
We indicate the type of your application.
The portal will then direct you to the portal page.
On the new page, select “personal visit to the FSSP”.
It is necessary to clarify who is submitting the application - the applicant personally or his authorized representative.
Select a category - collector or debtor.
We fill out the proposed form about ourselves and submit this application.

At the same time, direct communication with bailiffs through State Services is excluded - the procedure is limited to filling out an application and the proposed forms. You will receive all the necessary answers in your personal account online.

General rules for filing a complaint

Before talking about specific types of complaints, we need to consider the general basic rules for writing such a document. They can be either specified in the legislation itself or determined by general rules for filing official petitions. You can write your own appeal or complaint against the judge, but it is better to draw up a claim with the help of a lawyer or advocate. So, when filing a complaint, you should remember the following rules:

The appeal can be either typed or handwritten. If you write your complaint by hand, write legibly;
Errors, typos, corrections and blots are not allowed in the complaint;
The information in the complaint must be described briefly, clearly and as clearly as possible;
Extra “water”, speculation, irrelevant or unconfirmed information is not allowed;
Under no circumstances are threats or insults allowed, especially against judges - this is a very serious offence;
Slander is not allowed - it is criminally punishable;
Any information provided in the complaint must be proven in some way;
When drawing up a complaint, you must not only describe the violation in detail, but also indicate the number of the case in which the violation was committed;
When submitting an application, you cannot specify any requirements. The list of penalties applied to judges is very strictly defined by law, so the applicants’ demands are simply not considered. So in the “Please” column you only need to indicate a request for an inspection.

To prove a violation, you will need to provide relevant materials. If you do not have them, then authorized persons will be able to obtain them from the materials of the case itself. But at the same time, any additional evidence will be very useful. The main thing is to provide them correctly. Photos and copies of documents can be attached to the complaint just like that. But it is better to discuss the transmission of audio and video in advance - each service has its own procedure for receiving materials.

Samples

Peaceful resolution of the conflict

Sample application for insurance refund

Before filing a claim, try to resolve disagreements out of court - it is possible that the bank will accommodate you halfway. Especially if there are violations.

Submit a written complaint that describes the problem and your requirements. If the bank does not agree with the arguments and sent a written refusal, or completely ignored the borrower’s request within ten days, then it is worth contacting the courts.

A complaint about unlawful actions of a financial organization can also be filed with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation or Rospotrebnadzor in parallel with the judicial proceedings.

Seeing that legal proceedings have been initiated, the bank itself is ready to peacefully resolve the conflict. For example, VTB refused to citizen O.L. in opening a current account without specifying the reasons. O.L. filed a lawsuit, indicating his requirements for opening an account and notifying regulatory authorities within the framework of Federal Law No. 115 about the absence of grounds for refusal. The bank, having received a copy of the claim, contacted the plaintiff and the issue was resolved.

Our lawyer told you what to do if your account is blocked under 115-FZ in this material.

Margarita Kholostova

financial manager

Complaint to the chairman

If you notice a violation by a judge, then first of all you should contact the chairman of the court. The fact is that the courts have a certain hierarchy, and a complaint to a higher court can be very useful if you need to point out the mistakes of a junior court. That is, if you want to influence the magistrate’s court, you should complain to the chairman of the district court.

There is no sample complaint against a judge to the chairman - this is a free-form statement, and it can look like anything. The main thing is to adhere to the general rules and indicate the following important data:

Who files the complaint;
Who is the complaint against?
What case is being considered in court;
What violation was committed?

In this case, the only measure that the chairman can apply is to impose a penalty. At first glance, this is not a very serious measure, but it is not so - most judges value their reputation, and such penalties can have extremely negative consequences. So judges, as a rule, do everything to correct these penalties as soon as possible.

Why is there a need to write a complaint?

The Constitution of the Russian Federation states that the court must be impartial and objective. Practice often demonstrates otherwise:

cases have been pending for years, although the period for their consideration under Art. 154 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation should not exceed a two-month period;
the judge deliberately ignores evidence and testimony supporting the position of one of the parties;
the protocols do not correspond to the actual content of the trial and the testimony of its participants;
court representatives deliberately do not give the floor to the plaintiff or defendant;
representatives of justice directly during the process advise one of the parties.

Inexperienced citizens naively believe that a complaint against a justice of the peace filed with the qualification commission will immediately take effect, and the representative of the law will be replaced by another, impartial and objective. It is enough to find the “correct” sample and find out which authorities to contact. In practice, everything is different. For action to be taken, a strong evidence base from the victim is required.

By law, judges are independent, and therefore no person in the state has the right to remove them from a particular case or influence the decision-making process. The maximum that can be achieved by a complaint is the application of disciplinary measures to the violator. According to statistics, this happens only in 30% of cases; the rest of citizens’ requests are not satisfied.

Complaint from the panel of judges

The most effective complaint against a judge is a complaint to the Qualification Board of Judges. This is an organization that monitors the activities of judges, the quality of their work and compliance with all standards of business conduct. This is, perhaps, the only service that can hold a judge accountable for a violation he has committed at the request of an ordinary citizen.

The application to the Qualification Board of Judges has a strict form, which has three parts:

Title. It includes:
Information about who is filing the complaint: full name, address, contacts, indication of who he is (plaintiff, defendant, third party);
Information part. Contains:
Data on the case during the consideration of which the violation arose;
A detailed description of the violation committed by the judge;
Requests to hold the judge accountable;
Conclusion. Contains:
Applicant's signature;
Date of filing the complaint.

In order to file a complaint with the Qualification Board of Judges about violations by a judge, you will need to contact the court that is considering the case. The complaint is transmitted to the board through the same employee who receives appeals to the chairman.

In what cases should a claim be filed?

The main point in legal disputes with the bank will be the violation of the loan agreement. Clients should read this document carefully: banks often write important information in small print in footnotes or on the last pages, and it is simply difficult to notice.

Such a circumstance will also be a reason for going to court, because according to the law, the consumer must be fully informed about the service. Sometimes finely written text radically changes the conditions that the bank employee verbally told you.

The range of situations where banks violate the rights of their clients is wide, but we will look at the most common:

Theft of funds
Have you noticed a decrease in the amount in your account? Check for debt. If there is one, then it is possible that a court decision has been made against you and enforcement proceedings have been initiated to collect the debt.
But if there are no credit obligations and other late payments, then there is a possibility of money theft. Perhaps this indicates fraud by one of the employees.
Illegal refusal of mortgage holidays
Law No. 353-FZ obliges banks to justify their refusal to provide a citizen with a mortgage holiday. If you have provided documents about registration as unemployed, establishment of 1 or 2 disability groups, long-term sick leave or the birth of children, the bank is obliged to agree on a deferment or installment plan.
The refusal must be made in writing.
If a bank employee refuses verbally, it is necessary to request written confirmation indicating the reasons - this aspect is enshrined by the legislator in clause 12 of Article 6.1-1 6.1-1 of the Federal Law “On Consumer Credit (Loan)”. An illegal refusal can be appealed not only in court, but also administratively - by writing a complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Imposing additional services
As a rule, this is insurance. The legislator gives two weeks to return the amount for the insurance service - the so-called “cooling period”. But when applying for a loan, banks add an insurance contract to the range of services without notifying the client about it. They even include the cost of the insurance premium in the loan amount, that is, interest will be charged on it.
If the box indicating agreement with insurance is checked by a computer and you are given completed papers to sign, this can be regarded as an inability to refuse the service. And challenge the insurance by filing a lawsuit against the bank.
We have described in detail the procedure for returning the insurance premium in this instruction.
Refusal to refund fees for additional services in case of early repayment
The Supreme Court in the 2021 Review indicates that the borrower has the right to refuse additional banking services that were prepaid, but not actually provided, in the event of early repayment of the loan.
Note! Claims about illegal commissions, fines, increased interest rates and various additional services that cannot be refused are within the scope of consumer rights. Based on clause 6 of Art. 13 Federal Law 2300-1, when satisfying such a claim, the court collects a fine from the bank in favor of the citizen in the amount of 50% of the amount of the claim. Plus a small moral damage, usually up to 5 thousand rubles.
Margarita Kholostova
financial manager
Overdraft connection by default
Let us present an interesting case from judicial practice. Sberbank PJSC issued the client a debit card that does not provide for an overdraft, i.e. using borrowed funds from a bank on the principle of a credit card.
The citizen had debts, and the bailiffs decided to seize his accounts, including the notorious card. The bank was sent a request to write off the incoming money. Sber connected an overdraft on the card, due to which the debt was paid in the amount of 40,000 rubles. The client was not notified of this.
Subsequently, the bank went to court to collect the overdue debt, but lost. The plaintiff appealed the decision to the appeal, which agreed with his arguments. The defendant went to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, actually sued Sberbank and achieved justice.
The Supreme Court indicated that the possibility of connecting an overdraft must be specified in the agreement, and if such a condition is not present, then the bank cannot demand the debt.
Refusal to issue money when closing a deposit
Is it possible to sue in this case? As a general rule, upon expiration of the deposit agreement, the citizen withdraws his funds with accrued interest. But often, if the required amount is not available at the cash register, the bank refuses to issue it or delays payment.
This contradicts paragraph 2 of Article 837 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation: the credit institution is obliged to issue the deposit or part of it, accrued interest, upon the depositor’s request immediately. If a written refusal is received, you can submit an application to a bank branch.
Illegal fine
Receipt of funds after the day specified in the payment schedule is not a reason for imposing a penalty. Resolution of the 2021 Supreme Court Plenum and Art. 37 of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights regulates that obligations are considered fulfilled from the moment funds are deposited with a credit institution.
Read also: The Supreme Court has developed recommendations for courts to protect the rights of prisoners
Problems arise during long holidays. The borrower makes the payment in the evening on the last working day, and they arrive after the entire weekend. This is followed by a phone call, where the bank specialist scares you with fines and a damaged credit history. If you paid an illegal fine, you can demand its return - first in the form of a claim, and in case of refusal, you should go to court.
Increase in loan interest
If the bank increased the interest on the loan, then this is a violation of the essential terms of the agreement. Art. 5 353-ФЗ establishes that the amount of interest is negotiated with the client before signing the agreement, and unilaterally the bank can only reduce the interest on the loan, reduce the penalty, and cancel fines.
Otherwise, the actions of the financial institution worsen the client’s situation, and you can sue the bank for the loan. We remind you that if you have a lot of debts, and you objectively understand that you are not able to pay them, you can file for bankruptcy of an individual in an arbitration court.
Intrusive calling
Is it possible to sue a bank for making calls? Yes, if the bank’s actions disturb your peace of mind and you did not consent to the sending of promotional offers. Sometimes such a condition is written in small print in contracts, and many do not even know that they have given voluntary consent to the call.
Application for revocation of personal data - 12.1 KB
If this was not the case, you can request in writing from the organization information about where they obtained your data from and demand that they be removed from their database - submit an application for revocation of personal data.
There are precedents when citizens addressed complaints to Home Credit, OTP Bank, Sovcombank, Russian Standard, Otkritie and Alfa Bank ().
These financial organizations conduct an active advertising campaign for their products, including calling citizens. If you are seriously harassed, even despite a written ban, you can try to recover the moral damage caused, but you will need to prove the existence of such damage.

Complaint to the prosecutor's office

The last authority that is guaranteed to consider your complaint against the judge and take appropriate measures is the prosecutor's office. As the main organization responsible for the civil rights of all residents of the Russian Federation, the prosecutor's office has the widest range of powers and can hold anyone accountable, even judges.

However, complaining to the prosecutor's office about a violation committed by a judge is not so simple. Firstly, you will need to go through all previous instances of appeal (chairman of the court, qualification board of judges). Secondly, you will need to prove that the measures taken are insufficient and the judge continues to commit violations. Thirdly, you will need to collect a lot of case materials. Fourthly, when considering a case by the prosecutor's office, you will have to constantly participate in the investigation.

The sample application to the prosecutor's office with a complaint against a judge is very similar to the standard application to the prosecutor's office and, at the same time, is not much different from the statements described above. It has three parts:

Title. Contains data on the prosecutor's office (full name and title of the head, address of the department, its full name) and data on the applicant (full name, address, contacts);
Information part. Contains a description of the case under consideration, as well as detailed information about when and what specific actions of the judge led to a violation of your rights. It then describes in detail your attempt to resolve the problem with the help of the panel or the court itself. In conclusion, a request is made to conduct an inspection and hold the judge accountable;
Conclusion. Contains a list of your evidence of the violation (including the response from the board and the court) attached to the complaint, as well as your signature and date of filing the application.

Let us note right away that the prosecutor’s office rarely considers a complaint against a judge. As a rule, complaints against judges received by the prosecutor's office do not even lead to the opening of a case. This is due to the fact that the prosecutor’s office has very little power, and its employees cannot influence judges. So you should write to the prosecutor's office only in case of a gross violation of civil rights - only in the most serious cases will the prosecutor's office be able to help you with anything.

How to complain through the FSSP?

We figured out how to contact bailiffs through State Services, but you can also complain directly: by personally submitting a document or in electronic format. You need to complain to the senior bailiff, who is subordinate to your bailiff.

In this case, you must provide the following information:

your full name, contact details, residential address;
Full name and position of the bailiff against whom you wish to file a complaint;
data of the decision that is being appealed;
the essence of the problem and the grounds on which you want to appeal the actions or inactions of the FSSP employee;
your requirements.

The application is submitted according to the requirements set out in the following regulatory documents:

Order of the Ministry of Justice No. 333.
Government Decree No. 606.

If you choose to apply online, you need to go to the FSSP Internet reception at: https://fssp.gov.ru/form/. A request template is automatically generated there.

You will be presented with fields that you will need to fill out:

FULL NAME;
The subject of the Russian Federation;
City;
Registration address;
Email address and phone number.

You also need to select the type and topic of the appeal, indicate the territorial authority, division and full name of the bailiff. Below is a field where you can state the essence of the complaint.

Judicial practice on complaints against the actions of bailiffs

We note that such processes—arising as a result of complaints—often reach the Supreme Court. It is difficult to explain what caused this, but the fact remains. Most likely, it was the desire of the bailiffs to protect the “honor of the uniform” and not hand over a lazy colleague to the complainant.

As a first example, we present the Ruling of the Supreme Court dated June 4, 2021 N 5-КГ19-56.

Citizen Alekseev filed a claim against the FSSP, demanding compensation for damage in the amount of slightly more than 1 million rubles and state duty expenses in the amount of 13 thousand rubles. He acted as a production collector. The debtor was the organization "Windows MSK".

Due to a mistake by the bailiff, the claimant was deprived of the opportunity to collect the money that the debtor had and was kept in a Sberbank account. The court of first instance and the Appeal refused to satisfy the claims of the claimant Alekseev. The dispute reached the Supreme Court. An objection was also received there from the FSSP. However, having considered the circumstances of the case, the Supreme Court found the complaint to be justified.

The case developed as follows.

Based on the court decision, enforcement proceedings were initiated.
The bailiff imposed a ban on transactions with the registered property of the organization. Several vehicles were registered to her.
Next, the bailiff foreclosed on the organization’s money in the required amount. But while the decision was being made, the organization withdrew money from the account.
Subsequently, the bailiff withdrew only a little more than 60 thousand rubles and closed the proceedings due to the lack of funds from the debtor.

The result was a situation where the bailiff was late with restrictive measures. He opened production and did not act, which led to damage. As a result, the case was sent for review.

Also, as an example, we can cite the Supreme Court Decision No. 2-65/2019 dated July 21, 2021. Here, the bailiffs seized seized property worth 1.4 million rubles for storage, but it subsequently disappeared. The Supreme Court considered that the bailiff was responsible for the objects that were seized for storage. The case was also sent for review.

Sometimes debtors who file claims against bailiffs also reach the Supreme Court. This happened in Determination No. 44-КГ19-18 in case No. 2-4103/2018 Moscow dated December 17, 2021. In this case, the debtor paid the entire amount of the required debt, but this did not help - his trip abroad on a tour package was disrupted . The problem was the inaction of the bailiff - he did not lift the restriction, and the man was not released abroad.

Cases when filing a private complaint is possible

When the court hearing a case at first instance decides certain procedural issues by making a ruling, it can be appealed. But for this, two basic conditions must be met:

Filing a private complaint is provided for by law. For example, if the case is suspended, or if the claim is left without consideration.
The appealed ruling interferes with the progress of the case.

A person who has expressed a desire to appeal the determination must meet the deadline allotted for this, namely fifteen days . But the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation may also establish other deadlines, which should be explicitly stated in the article. Then the deadline from the article for appealing the court decision applies.

And that will be?

You should not hope that you will be able to fire a judge just by knowing where to complain to the court and using this information. Of course, this is theoretically possible, but in practice it happens extremely rarely and only indicates the presence of influential enemies of the judge who took advantage of the prevailing circumstances.

In the classic version, after 30 days, the citizen receives from the authority an official response to the complaint, most often containing information that judicial conduct is beyond the competence of the responding authority. Another common option is to “shift” all the blame onto the assistant referee and indicate that the person responsible was punished.