WHAT ARE CASES OF SUSPENSION OF CIVIL PROCEEDINGS?

Legal Ground:

Civil Procedure Code 2015;

1. Cases of settlement suspension

According to the provisions of Article 217 of Civil Procedure Code 2015, after accepting the case that falls under its jurisdiction, the Court shall issue a decision to suspend the civil case in the following circumstances:

(i) The applicant or the respondent is a deceased individual without a beneficiary to his or her rights and obligations;

(ii) An agency or organization which has been dissolved or declared bankrupt is without an agency, organization or individual to take over its rights and obligations in the proceedings;

(iii) The applicant withdraws all of his or her application for initiation of the legal action or the plaintiff who has been properly summonsed fails to be present twice, unless he or she requests to conduct the hearing in his or her absence due to an event of force majeure or objective hindrance;

(iv) The Court has issued a decision to conduct a hearing for a bankruptcy petition against an enterprise or co-operative which is party to the case while the resolution of the case is related to the obligations or property of such enterprise or co-operative;

(v) The plaintiff fails to pay a deposit for expenses of valuation or other expenses for proceedings;

In case the defendant makes a counter-claim, the person with related interests and obligations making an independent claim fails to pay an advance for asset valuation expenses and other procedural expenses as prescribed;

(vi) A litigant makes a petition for application of the statutory limitation period before the Court of first instance makes the judgement or decision resolving the case and the limitation period for initiating a legal action has expired;

(vii) The cases prescribed in article 192.1 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 which were accepted by the Court such as the applicant does not have the right to initiate the legal action or does not have full capacity for acts in civil proceedings, the case does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Court.

(viii) Other cases stipulated by law.

Where the plaintiff withdraws all of his or her application for initiation of a legal action or who has been properly summonsed but fails to be present twice without any proper reason, and does not request to conduct the hearing in his or her absence and the defendant makes a counterclaim or a person with related rights and obligations makes an independent claim in such case, the case shall be resolved as follows:

(i) If the defendant withdraws all of his or her counterclaim or the person with related rights and obligations withdraws all of his or her independent claim, the Court shall issue a decision on suspension of resolving the case;

(ii) If the defendant fails to withdraw his or her counterclaim or withdraws only a part of his or her counterclaim, the Court shall issue a decision on suspension of resolving of the the plaintiff’s petition; and then the defendant shall become the plaintiff and the plaintiff shall become the defendant;

(iii) If the defendant withdraws all of his or her counterclaim or the person with related rights and obligations fails to withdraw or withdraws only part of his or her independent claim, the Court shall issue a decision on suspension of resolving of the plaintiff’s the petition or the counterclaim of the defendant; and then the person with related rights and obligations shall become the plaintiff and the person against whom the legal action is initiated according to the independent claim shall become the defendant.

2. Obligations of the Court after the suspension of the civil case settlement

The Court shall issue a decision on suspension of the civil case, remove the name of such case from the book of acceptance and return the petition and its supporting documents to the applicant if request; and in this case, the Court shall photocopy same and archive such photocopies in order to provide the grounds for resolution of a complaint or petition upon request.

The Court shall, within three working days from the date of the decision on suspension of the civil case, forward such decision to the parties and the procuracy of the same jurisdiction.

Applicable to cases which are retried at first instance after a judicial review decision or a new trial decision is made and for which the Court issues a decisionon suspension of the case, the Court must concurrently resolve the consequences of legal enforcement and other relevant issues (if any); where the plaintiff withdraws his or her petition or who has been properly summonsed but fails to be present twice, the suspension of the case shall require the consent of the defendant or persons with related rights and obligations.

3. Legal effect of the suspension of a civil case

When a decision on suspension of a civil case is issued, the applicant is not entitled to initiate a legal action before Court if the legal proceeding is not different from the previous legal proceeding in terms of the plaintiff, defendant and the legal relations in disputes, except for the cases specified in articles 192.3 and 217.1(c) of Civil Procedure Code 2015 and other cases stipulated by laws.

Note: The decision on suspension of the civil case may be appealed or protested under the appellate proceedings.

ADK & Co. Vietnam Lawyers Law Firm