Conditions for initiating civil lawsuits according to Vietnamese law

Conditions for initiating civil lawsuits according to Vietnamese law

1. Legal Basis

– Civil Code No. 91/2015/QH13 dated November 24, 2015;

– Civil Procedure Code No.92/2015/QH13 dated November 25, 2015.

2. Conditions for initiating civil lawsuits according to Vietnamese law

2.1. Conditions on the subject of the lawsuit

To initiate a civil lawsuit, the subject of the lawsuit must have the right to initiate and have full capacity to act in civil proceedings.

The subject must have legitimate rights and interests in civil, marriage, family, commercial business, labor, land, and housing (hereinafter referred to as civil) that are violated. Agencies, organizations and individuals have the right to initiate a lawsuit on their own or through a legal representative at a competent court to request protection of legitimate rights and interests. In adddition, to protect the legitimate rights or interests of others or protect public interests or the interests of the State, in some special cases, some individuals, agencies and organizations such as: State management agencies on families, state management agencies on children, and the Vietnam Women’s Union, within the scope of their duties and powers, have the right to initiate.

In addition, the subject initiating the lawsuit must also have full capacity for civil proceedings according to the provisions of the Civil Code.

2.2. The matter must fall under the Court’s jurisdiction

The Court’s jurisdiction is determined to avoid overlap in performing the Court’s tasks, contributing to quickly and accurately resolving cases and creating conditions for individual/organization to participate in proceedings. At the same time, the division of jurisdiction between Courts also contributes to the Courts properly performing their duties according to the law.

In order for a civil case to be accepted, the petition must be sent to the correct Court with jurisdiction. The court only accepts civil cases for disputes within its jurisdiction.

(1) The case in which the subject initiates a lawsuit falls within the scope of the Court’s jurisdiction as prescribed in Articles 26, 28, 30 and 32 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code;

(2) The case to be sued must be at the competent court level specified in Articles 35, 36, 37, 38 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code;

(3) The case is prosecuted within the jurisdiction of the Court according to the territory specified in Article 39 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code;

(4) In case the plaintiff has the right to choose the Court according to Article 40 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, the litigant is required to commit not to sue in other Courts. If the Court chooses to resolve the matter by agreement, the legality of the agreement must be checked;

(5) For matters that are required by law to be resolved by another agency first, the subject of the lawsuit may only initiate a lawsuit when the relevant agencies have resolved it but they do not agree with the resolution of the case. that agency;

(6) When determining jurisdiction, the Court must also determine whether it is a civil dispute, marriage and family, business, trade or labor dispute in order to record the case in accordance with regulations.

This determination is of great significance when determining the substantive legal norms to apply. For example, if it is a land dispute, the provisions of the Land Law and the Civil Code will apply to resolve it, or if the dispute is about business or commerce, the Commercial Law and Enterprise Law will apply.

2.3. The matter is still under the statute of limitations

Statute of limitations for initiating legal action is the time limit within which an entity has the right to initiate legal action to request a court to resolve a civil case to protect the infringed legal rights or interests of the entity. When such time limit expires, the right to initiate such legal action shall be lost.

The Courts shall apply the regulations on statute of limitations according to the requests for application of statute of limitations of one or multiple sides, provided that such requests are made before the first-instance Courts issue the judgments/decisions on such matters/cases. The persons to get benefits from the application of statute of limitations may refuse to apply the statute of limitations, unless such refusal is to avoid their performance of obligations.

2.4. The matter has not been resolved by a legally effective judgment or decision of the Court or a decision of a competent state agency, unless otherwise prescribed by law.

This condition is to ensure the effectiveness of judgments and decisions and the stability of social relations. Once a matter has been resolved, it cannot be resolved again to avoid overlap.

If matters have been resolved by effective judgments or decisions of Courts or legally binding decisions of competent State agencies, the subject no longer has the right to sue in that case., except for cases where the Courts reject the applications for divorce, for change in child adoption, change of alimony levels or damage compensation levels, or applications for change of property manager, change of inherited-property manager, change of guardian or cases of the reclaim of leased or lent properties or houses leased, lent or offered for other people’s free-of-charge stay, which have not been recognized by Court and eligible for re-initiation of lawsuits as prescribed by law.

In conclusion, only when all the above conditions are met, will an individual/organization have the right to initiate a civil lawsuit according to the provisions of the law.