Are you looking for how to file a motion to postpone a court hearing? Which will the court consider positively? We have posted general information about the preparation and submission of such documents. And also about possible reasons for the transfer, which will be recognized by the court as valid. But the applicant will have to provide relevant evidence to support the reasons for rescheduling the scheduled hearing to another time.
A motion to reschedule a court hearing is a request to have a civil case heard on another day. Such a document can be submitted in accordance with Art. 35 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation (rights and obligations of persons participating in the case).
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Request to postpone the hearing
Is it necessary to file a motion to postpone the hearing?
It is mandatory to submit a motion to postpone the court hearing. If a party to the case intends to personally represent their interests and participate in the process of considering the case on its merits. You cannot simply not come to court without giving reasons. Then the court decision can be made without this side of the case. This situation is especially possible when considering “simple” cases (claims for debt collection under a loan agreement, claims for divorce). The court as a whole may consider them in one sitting if no motions have been received from the parties. And personal participation will allow, for example, to ask for a reduction in the penalty, present additional evidence in a civil case, ask questions to witnesses and the party, third parties, etc.
If you do not submit a request to postpone the court hearing in time, the court may not postpone the consideration of the case. But the reasons for the transfer must be compelling and valid. If a party is not ready for the process, it is better to file a motion to postpone the court hearing due to the need to obtain legal assistance. Such a request can be made orally or submitted in writing.
Typically, the case review process consists of several meetings. The first is a preliminary court hearing, at which the judge announces the essence of the case and asks about the presence of petitions. At this meeting, the parties may request to call witnesses, request evidence, or order an examination. It is obvious that the court is unlikely to postpone the preliminary hearing without good reason. Most likely, after the preliminary hearing, a court hearing will be immediately scheduled.
Drawing up an application and sample
Each procedural document submitted to the court with a request to change the existing order of consideration of the case is subject to careful verification. To ensure that a submitted motion to postpone a court hearing is not included in the list of refusals, the party must fill out all the required fields of the document.
The structure of the document consists of three sections:
- Introductory part. It records information about the judicial authority that is handling the transferred case, and indicates the personal information of the applicant.
- Motivational part. Is the most significant section. In it, the party indicates the circumstances that prevent him from participating in the case or other reasons that are an obstacle to consideration. It is imperative to provide a regulatory source (Article 169 of the Code of Civil Procedure).
- Final part. It contains a list of related papers. At the bottom of the document is the signature of the applicant and the date of the request.
How long does it take to file a motion to postpone a court hearing?
It is expected that this should be done immediately when reasons are discovered that make it impossible to appear in court. A request to postpone the hearing is also made in the event of illness of the representative of the plaintiff or defendant. But such a petition must come from the party (another person participating in the case), and not from the representative himself.
If a participant in the case is in a hospital, one of the relatives or other persons will be able to take the petition to the court. This application is accompanied by a certificate of hospital stay. The same procedure is provided if one of the parties or a representative is on sick leave to care for a child.
Is it possible to do without a petition?
If you find out that it is impossible to appear the day before the hearing, or for other objective reasons you do not have time to file a petition, I still recommend notifying the court. This can be done by calling the secretary of your case, or through the office of the judicial institution. You can find out your phone number through the State Automated System “Justice”, or through the procedural documents in your case (for example, the phone number is always indicated in the summons).
Courts also accept petitions via email. If you have an electronic signature, this type of request will have equal legal force as a written document. Even in the absence of an electronic digital signature, the court will definitely take into account the reasons for failure to appear that you refer to. However, when participating in the next meeting, you must provide the evidence that you provided in your oral or electronic appeal.
Grounds for postponing a court hearing
As mentioned above, to postpone a meeting at the request of one of the parties there must be compelling reasons: business trip, illness. In each case, the issue of respect is considered individually. If you have any difficulties, contact the site’s lawyer on duty; perhaps legal assistance in describing the reasons and presenting evidence will be relevant for you.
The request for transfer must be made in writing and submitted to the court reception. Obvious cases of postponing a court hearing (adjournment) are the following procedural actions:
- receipt of a counterclaim
- petition for evidence
- petition to call witnesses
- application for the involvement of a third party
For example, in the process of eviction from social housing, the defendant insists that payments were made on time. And he asks the plaintiff to provide an extract from his personal account, which was not in the case file. Naturally, the plaintiff needs time to prepare documents. And the judge postpones the court hearing for a period agreed upon with the parties.
The appointment of an examination entails the suspension of the consideration of the case without the receipt of any requests from the parties. Most often, such situations arise when a claim for damages is being considered. The parties present reports from various experts (for example, on a road accident), and the judge decides to order a forensic examination, which will decide a lot. After the results of the examination are received by the court, the defendant and plaintiff are notified of a new date for the court hearing.
How to file a motion to adjourn a civil case
The result of considering the application largely depends on how well the document is presented. Simply asking for a new meeting date is not enough.
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It is necessary to indicate the reasons why making an informed decision is impossible. It is highly advisable to support them with available documents.
The appeal must contain references to the norms of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. This will give your petition greater credibility.
Contents of the statement
Its header indicates the name of the court, the case number and the initials of the judge. Next comes information about the author of the petition indicating his procedural status.
After the title of the document, a brief subject of the dispute is stated, indicating the date and time of the next meeting. The main block describes the circumstances due to which the need for transfer arose.
In your appeal, you can not only ask for a postponement, but also indicate a possible time period: for example, 2 weeks. The application is completed with a list of attachments and a personal signature.
Filing a lawsuit
There are several options. The first is through the office. Then the employee puts an acceptance mark on the second copy. You must bring a package of documents in advance, several days before the scheduled date of the meeting.
It is permissible to send an application by mail. A registered letter is generated with a list of attachments. This must be done with plenty of time, taking into account possible delays in sending correspondence.
If the need for adjournment arose unexpectedly, a telegram sent to the court can help. It succinctly sets out the required information.
Finally, the petition with attachments can be sent to the court electronically. This requires a digital signature. Afterwards, it is advisable to contact the court to make sure that everything went as intended.
Consideration of an application to transfer the case to another date
Everything happens in a trial. When the second party is present, her opinion is asked about the advisability of adjournment, taking into account the materials already available in the case and other factors.
When the petition is granted, a new date and time for the hearing are determined. The absent citizen is notified about them by mail. However, it is useful to contact the assistant referee yourself and clarify the details.
In addition, information regarding the transfer is available on the court's website. It is enough to enter the initials of the party and the case number in the special fields.
If the court does not satisfy, what are the consequences
Each party to the dispute is required to argue its position. For this purpose, not only documentary means of proof are provided, but also personal explanations during the trial. At the same time, satisfying a request to postpone the hearing to another date is a right, not an obligation, of the court.
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When it comes to adjournment due to failure to appear, the request is rejected if there are no reasons or the reasons are not considered convincing to the judge. In this situation, according to the rules of Part 2 of Art. 171 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the trial continues.
The consequences for the parties to the conflict are different. If the plaintiff or his representative unreasonably fails to come to court twice, the statement of claim is left without consideration. There is one caveat - the opponent does not insist on resolving the dispute on the merits.
Repeated failure of the defendant to appear entails a default judgment according to the rules of Chapter 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.
When the defendant does not agree with the contents of the accepted document, an application for its cancellation is submitted to the court of first instance. 7 days following the date of receipt of the decision are allotted for this. If the appeal is satisfied, the case is heard in full.
If the claim is left without consideration, it is allowed to be brought again. But the limitation period will not be interrupted.
Consideration by the court of a petition to postpone the court hearing
The court resolves the request to postpone the court hearing by recording the adopted decision in the minutes of the court session. The court may postpone the hearing or refuse the request. The case is conducted by the court (court composition), and it is he who makes fundamental procedural decisions. It is not possible to appeal a court ruling regarding the postponement of a court hearing. In this case, a private complaint against the court ruling is not filed.
If you are participating in court, even with a representative, thoroughly study your rights in the process. And use them actively to protect your interests. Remember that the outcome of the process depends on the evidence and the argumentation of the position in the case. And even when a representative is involved in the case, a petition to postpone the court hearing due to the impossibility of the representative’s personal participation is filed by the party to the case.
Grounds for refusing to reschedule a meeting to another date
The court has the right to grant or reject a request to postpone the hearing. The main reasons for refusal are as follows:
- the grounds are personal and are provided solely for the purpose of delaying the legal process
- the period for consideration of the case expires
- the reason is not sufficiently valid or supporting documents were not attached to the application
A motion rejected by a judge is not subject to appeal.
How to submit a telephone message
On the day of the court hearing in the morning or the day before, or whenever you want, but call the court in advance: the telephone number of the court office is on all court websites, mainly in the upper right corner or in a special section of the website with department contacts.
You can also find out the telephone number of your judge’s office/hall in the court office. The telephone in the judge’s office/hall is answered either by the judge’s assistant, or by the session secretary, or by the judge himself.
Having reached us, we wish you a good day, please accept the telephone message.
We specify the telephone number, position, last name, first name and patronymic of the employee with whom we are talking. We record this data. And, if possible, we record the entire conversation.
Postponement of court proceedings when considering an economic dispute
When considering economic disputes, situations often arise when it is necessary to postpone the trial. The reasons may be different: from the failure of a representative to appear to the need to obtain additional evidence.
According to Part 1 of Art. 179 Code of Criminal Procedure, the trial of a case may be postponed:
1) in cases provided for by the CPC:
2) if the court finds it impossible to consider the case at this court hearing because: - one of the persons participating in the case or other participants in the economic process did not appear; — it is necessary to provide additional evidence or perform additional procedural actions.
Grounds for postponing the trial
An analysis of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and law enforcement practice allows us to identify the following main cases when it is allowed to postpone the trial.
1. There were technical problems with the video conferencing systems <*>.
If the court has granted the request to use video conferencing systems at the court hearing, it has the right to postpone the trial if there are problems with them.
The interested party must request in advance to adjourn the proceedings in the event of technical difficulties. Resolving them may take a long time, which will not be conducive to effective legal proceedings.
2. The court granted the request to obtain evidence <*>.
If an interested party makes a justified request for additional evidence, the court will request it from the person who has this evidence.
In such a situation, the court is guaranteed to postpone the trial until it receives evidence or information about the impossibility of obtaining it.
3. The court granted the request to involve a third party who does not make independent claims on the subject of the dispute <*>.
By virtue of Part 5 of Art. 65 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court issues a ruling to involve a third party in the case or to refuse to involve a third party who does not make independent claims on the subject of the dispute. This determination can be appealed in accordance with the procedure established by the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In this case, the court will oblige the plaintiff to send a copy of the statement of claim to a third party, and the latter will be asked to submit a response to the claim. In connection with this, the court will postpone the trial.
4. Calling witnesses <*>.
Often a party cannot ensure the attendance of a witness on its own. Therefore, the court adjourns the hearing and issues a subpoena to the witness.
In addition, at the time of filing a request to call a witness, a party may not have information about his place of residence (work). Then she files a petition to request such information from law enforcement agencies. This results in a postponement of the trial.
5. Appointment of examination <*>.
In accordance with Part 3, 4, Clause 3 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Economic Council of December 18, 2007 N 11 “On some issues of the application of legislation on examination by economic courts,” if the need for an examination arose during the trial, the court has the right to postpone it on the basis of Art. 179 COD or declare a break in accordance with Art. 186 COD.
Sometimes it is necessary to obtain information about the possibility of an examination, its cost, timing, as well as about the expert who will conduct it (last name, first name and patronymic, information about the expert’s specialty, work experience and position). In such a situation, the court sends to the expert institution or other persons who can be entrusted with conducting the examination, a ruling to postpone the trial or interrupt it.
When ordering an examination, the court has the right to postpone the trial (if the examination does not take much time) or suspend the proceedings on the basis of paragraph. 2 tbsp. 146 COD.
6. Both parties applied for conciliation proceedings <*>.
By virtue of Art. 156-1 Code of Criminal Procedure, the period of the conciliation procedure should not exceed a month. In the economic court of appeal and cassation, the deadlines are set according to Art. 278 and 295 COD.
Due to the length of the conciliation procedure, the Code of Criminal Procedure expressly provides for the right of the court to postpone the trial.
7. It takes time to prepare and sign a settlement agreement in the case.
If the parties wish to enter into a settlement agreement, they have the right to ask the court to postpone the trial.
When the initiative comes from only one of the parties, it must provide the court with convincing evidence of a real desire to end the dispute peacefully. For example, a draft settlement agreement and evidence of its direction to the other party.
8. One of the parties claims that the evidence is falsified <*>.
The court hears the opinions of the persons involved in the case about such an application and about the possibility of further proceedings. Then he makes a definition <*>.
Part 2 Art. 182 of the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes methods for the court to verify the authenticity and reliability of disputed evidence, which include: - its assessment in conjunction with other evidence; — requesting other evidence necessary to verify the reliability of the disputed; - other measures provided for by legislative acts to verify the authenticity of the statement about the falsification of evidence.
Therefore, the court will have to adjourn the trial to examine the evidence.
9. One of the parties makes a counterclaim <*>.
First, the defendant has the right to request an adjournment of the trial in order to prepare a counterclaim. Secondly, the court will most likely postpone the trial to give the plaintiff time to prepare a response to the counterclaim.
10. It takes time to present or review new evidence.
The postponement of the trial for this reason is expressly provided for in Part 1 of Art. 179 COD. When one of the parties presents evidence immediately to the court hearing without first sending it to the other party, the other party has the right to request that the trial be postponed in order to get acquainted with new evidence. Such a request is stipulated by Art. 19 COD.
1. The parties or other participants did not appear at the court hearing.
According to Parts 3 - 6 Art. 179 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the trial of the case is postponed in case of failure to appear at the court hearing: - an interpreter; - a person participating in the case, if there is no information about him being properly notified of the time and place of the court hearing.
When a properly notified person requests a postponement of the trial, the court may do so if the reasons for failure to appear are valid.
In addition, the court has the right to postpone the trial at the request of a person participating in the case if his representative fails to appear for a good reason.
The court assesses the validity of the reasons for failure to appear taking into account the circumstances of the particular case.
Example 1 The plaintiff filed a claim in court to invalidate the supply agreement. He did not attend the court hearing, citing the impossibility of the manager’s appearance. Based on Part 1 of Art. 179 of the Code of Criminal Procedure filed a motion to postpone the trial until the appellate court made a ruling in another case. The result of its resolution, according to the plaintiff, was of significant importance for the new case. The defendant's representative objected to the satisfaction of this petition. He justified his position by the fact that the plaintiff filed a motion in order to delay the trial. From the defendant's point of view, the plaintiff had sufficient time to collect and present evidence. The other case was not related to the one being considered. The court noted that the plaintiff’s petition did not indicate evidence that he was not able to present within the prescribed period. In previous court hearings, the plaintiff's interests were represented by lawyers, not his director. The petition did not say that the lawyer could not come to the court hearing. The plaintiff's arguments about the relationship of the cases did not indicate the impossibility of considering the case before the adoption of a court decision in another case by the appellate instance. The court refused to satisfy the petition to postpone the trial <*>.
Example 2 The creditor - Private Private Enterprise "T" asked the court to postpone the court hearing to another date, since his representative, who prepared the complaint and was present at the court hearings, was on vacation. The court duly notified the persons involved in the case about the place and time of the consideration of the case . This was confirmed by the documents available in the case file. In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 179 and part 3 of Art. 293 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court refused to satisfy the petition of ChTPUP “T” <*>.
12. The subject or grounds of the claim have changed or the amount of the claim has increased <*>.
Based on Art. 19 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court may postpone the trial either on its own initiative or at the request of the defendant in order to provide him with time to form a legal position and prepare a response taking into account the changed claims.
The list of situations and circumstances in connection with which the court may postpone the trial is open. The only criterion is the impossibility of considering the case in this court session.
The court establishes the grounds for postponing the trial in each specific case, based on its factual circumstances. This power stems from the principle of autonomy and independence of the judiciary. Depriving the court of this power would make it impossible to carry out its tasks.
At the same time, a guarantee of ensuring the procedural rights of persons participating in the case is the procedure for checking court decisions by higher courts and the grounds for canceling court decisions.
Procedural procedure for postponing trial
The court has the right to postpone the trial either on its own initiative or at the request of an interested person. Such a petition must comply with the general requirements for procedural documents. In particular, the petition must indicate the grounds (purpose) for postponing the trial and provide evidence of their existence.
If the petition is refused, the court issues a ruling that is not subject to separate appeal <*>.
In the ruling to postpone the trial of the case, the court indicates the time and place of the new trial. They are established in such a way that the court has enough time to call participants in the process, request additional evidence or for additional procedural actions <*>.
According to Part 7 of Art. 179 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court may postpone the trial of the case for the period necessary to eliminate the circumstances impeding the trial. But this period must be within the general period established by Art. 175 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for consideration of the case by the court of first instance and making a decision on it. The court's ruling to postpone the trial can be appealed in accordance with Art. 216 COD. After adjournment, the trial begins again <*>.
Instead of a conclusion
Adjournment of trial is an important procedural institution that ensures effective legal proceedings in economic disputes. A party's request to postpone the trial must be justified. Otherwise, the court may recognize that the party made such a request only to delay the consideration of the case.
