COVID Impacted Return of Claims by the Courts: recent outcome.

"Mass return of claims" - the outcome 

Like many others in June and July, we faced a "mass return of claims" by the courts (slightly less than ten cases). The grounds are all like a carbon copy: non-compliance of the pre-trial settlement procedure, the possibility of resolving the dispute through mediation, or a participatory process is not exhausted.

Naturally, all decisions on return were appealed, and only at this time (October-November), four months later, the Courts of Appeal began to consider the complaints. So far, the first results are encouraging: the Courts of Appeal overturn the return rulings and forward cases to the first-instance court for review on the merits.

In addition, the Courts of Appeal reasonably indicate that the first-instance court needs to establish:

- what actions were taken by the claimant for pre-trial settlement of the dispute;

- to determine whether the law or contract establishes a mandatory procedure for a pre-trial or out-of-court settlement for such disputes.

Apparently, the reason for the "mass returns" was the enormous caseload on the courts due to the pandemic: a lot of technical issues, gaps in legislation, and the lack of explicit algorithms for working in quarantine, etc.

All of this has resulted in an attempt to "spin-out" a huge number of cases for an extended period. Similar measures were taken by the courts at the very beginning of the pandemic (March), when the courts were recommended, if possible, to suspend or extend the time limits for consideration of cases.