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The general rule of territorial jurisdiction implies that a claim from the plaintiff party is brought against the defendant party at the place of residence or actual location.
The Arbitration Procedure Code implies that the jurisdiction of a particular dispute is determined by identifying the subject of a particular dispute, as well as its territorial affiliation. And for each specific dispute there is a separate procedure for applying to judicial arbitration bodies.
General rule of territorial jurisdiction. Cases of exception to the general rule
The general rule of territorial jurisdiction implies that a claim from the plaintiff party is brought against the defendant party at the place of residence or actual location, that is, in the arbitration court to which the defendant party territorially belongs. However, there are exceptions to this rule, since the general procedure for determining jurisdiction does not fully satisfy compliance with the existing rules of arbitration procedural law. Exception cases include:
- lack of information about the actual location of the defendant party;
- addressing multiple defendants whose residential addresses or locations do not match;
- the existence of a contract or agreement on interaction between the plaintiff party and the defendant party, which states exactly where the obligations of the parties must be fulfilled.
If the actual location of the defendant party is unknown, then the plaintiff party has the right to send an application for consideration of the dispute either to the place where the defendant’s real estate is registered, or to the place of his last location. In this case, the choice of the territorial judicial arbitration body remains at the discretion of the plaintiff party. He has the right to decide for himself which arbitration court it is more convenient for him to send the claim. If the defendants are several persons or organizations whose addresses are not geographically connected and do not coincide, then the plaintiff can send an application for consideration to the arbitration court, to which only one defendant is geographically affiliated.
There is no need to duplicate the application to the courts to which the other defendants belong at their place of residence or stay.
The case will be conducted and considered by the selected court, whose duty is to involve all parties and all interested persons in the process. If there is an agreement, according to which there is a specific place where obligations must be fulfilled, then the plaintiff party has the right to independently decide whether to send the application for consideration to the arbitration court at the place of residence of the defendant party or at the place of fulfillment of obligations under the contract. This right to choice is enshrined in the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, which eliminates the need to determine the jurisdiction of the dispute according to the general rule of territoriality.
Commentary on Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation in the new edition
Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation in the new edition enshrines the principle of alternative jurisdiction. In this case, as an exception to the rule of general jurisdiction (Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation), the law allows the plaintiff to choose one of the possible courts to consider his claim.
When choosing a court, the plaintiff must proceed from whether he, the defendant and other persons can participate in the court hearing. It is necessary to take into account where most of the evidence in the case is located, the place of residence of witnesses, and other circumstances that will affect the completeness of the evidence base and the timing of the trial.
The defendant's place of residence is determined by his registration. If the defendant does not live at the place of his registration or does not have registration, and the actual place of residence of the defendant is not known to the plaintiff, he has the right to file a claim in court at the last known place of residence of the defendant. The plaintiff is required to provide evidence confirming the unknown place of residence of the defendant.
Legal entities may have branches and representative offices located in other areas and have an address different from the location of the legal entity itself. If the plaintiff’s claims are related to the activities of this branch or representative office, then the claim may be brought both at the location of the legal entity itself and at the location of its branch or representative office.
According to Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation in its current version, when filing claims for alimony or establishing paternity in court, they can also be submitted to the court at the plaintiff’s place of residence. This category should not be interpreted too broadly. Thus, claims related to changes in the amount of alimony with a challenge to paternity are filed only at the place of residence of the defendant.
If a claim for divorce is filed with the magistrate at his place of residence, the plaintiff must attach documents confirming the presence of minor children (birth certificate and family composition certificate) or a medical certificate confirming that it is difficult for him to leave the defendant’s place of residence .
At his place of residence, the plaintiff can file a claim for compensation for damage to health, in addition, he can choose the court at the place where the harm occurred.
You should carefully read Part 7 of Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, since claims at their place of residence in accordance with this rule can only be filed by persons illegally brought to criminal liability. In other cases, demands for the protection of labor, housing, and pension rights are submitted to the court at the location of the defendant, if there are no other grounds for the use of alternative jurisdiction. For example, housing disputes related to rights to residential premises will be considered in accordance with Article 30 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, and labor disputes, in accordance with Part 9 of the commented article, can be brought to court at the place where labor duties are performed.
Location of the defendant or place of his registration and residence
Arbitration proceedings are inextricably linked with civil law, according to the rules of which it is determined what is the location or place of permanent residence of the defendant. At the same time, the definition is given both for individuals - participants in economic relations, disputes in which are resolved by arbitration courts, and for legal entities. According to the applicable rules of civil law, the place of residence of an individual is understood to be the place in which the citizen actually resides and is registered most of the time, that is, a person may primarily live at one address, but sometimes travel beyond this address due to certain circumstances (for example, during a business trip or for leisure). In civil law, the location of an individual who acts as a participant in economic or business relations is understood as the address at which a citizen is located and lives at a specific moment and period (address of temporary registration issued for a certain period of time, for example).
If the defendant party is an organization or any other legal entity, then the location is understood to be the address specified when registering this legal entity when registering with the tax authorities.
An application for consideration of an arbitration dispute is sent exclusively to this address, even if the organization’s official contacts (official website, business cards, advertisements, etc.) indicate a different location address.
When the defendant is a legal entity
Legal disputes are not always carried out between individuals. Many of them occur between an individual as a plaintiff and a legal entity as a defendant. It is in such situations that difficulties most often arise with choosing a court for appeal, or rather its location.
According to generally accepted rules, it is necessary to file a claim in court at the place of legal address of the organization with which the dispute arose. Of course, for many citizens this option is undesirable, because the location address is not always located in the city or even the region of the plaintiff. However, in this case, there is another option for filing a claim, namely at the address of the organization’s branch.
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It is possible to sue a company at the branch address if the dispute itself arises from the activities of the branch or representative office of this legal entity. That is, you will need to find out whether this exception applies specifically to your case. This can always be clarified by understanding the case materials and existing agreements with the organization, or even by first contacting the organization directly on this issue.
Documents required for filing an arbitration claim to the respondent party
According to the norms of the current Russian legislation, when considering an economic dispute, an initial pre-trial review of the case is provided, the purpose of which is to resolve the dispute peacefully and contractually. In cases where the parties fail to reach mutual understanding, the dispute is referred to arbitration court. It also provides for direct appeal to the judicial arbitration bodies of the first instance with a claim for consideration of the dispute. In this case, in addition to the application, it is required to collect a certain package of documents, without which the application may be legally refused. It includes the following titles:
- a receipt for payment of state duty to the selected territorial arbitration court (the details of this court can be found directly in the court itself);
- documents providing grounds for filing an application (all documents according to which a violation of the rights of the plaintiff party is confirmed);
- information about the status of the defendant party (an indication of who the defendant party is: an individual or a legal entity, whether the party is registered as an individual entrepreneur);
- copies of documents proving the insolvency of the pre-trial procedure, if any;
- information about the status of the plaintiff party (extract from the tax authorities, which indicates who the person is registered as: an individual entrepreneur, a legal entity or an individual).
All necessary documents are attached to the application, drawn up in accordance with the rules of arbitration procedural law. Without them, the court has the right not to accept the case for consideration, since there are no legal grounds for resolving the dispute.
Additional commentary to Art. 29 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation in the current version
Jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff is called alternative jurisdiction, since the law, as an exception to the general rule of territorial jurisdiction, gives the plaintiff the opportunity to choose from two, and in some cases (parts 5, 7, 8 of Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure) - from a larger number of courts. the court to which it is most convenient for him to apply.
Alternative jurisdiction is established by law for such categories of cases in which plaintiffs objectively need to create the most favorable conditions for legal proceedings (facilitate travel to court, collect evidence, etc.) or for which they are deprived of the opportunity to bring a claim according to the general rule of territorial jurisdiction (h 1 Article 29 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).
The right to choose between the courts, which, according to the general rule of territorial jurisdiction (see comments to Article 28 of the Civil Procedure Code) and the rules of alternative jurisdiction, has jurisdiction over this case, belongs exclusively to the plaintiff (Part 10, Article 29).
This means that the claims listed in Parts 1 - 9 of Art. 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, can be brought at the choice of the plaintiff either according to the general rule of territorial jurisdiction - at the place of residence or location of the defendant, or in the court specified in the commented article.
In such cases, the judge does not have the right to return the statement of claim to the plaintiff on the grounds that this court does not have jurisdiction over the case (see comments to Article 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure). These actions constitute an unlawful restriction of the right to access justice.
The rules of alternative jurisdiction are formulated quite clearly and do not cause problems in their application. However, some of them are worth paying attention to.
So, in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, a claim against an organization arising from the activities of its branch or representative office may also be brought to the court at the location of its branch or representative office.
A representative office is a separate division of a legal entity located outside its location, which represents the interests of the legal entity and protects them. A branch is a separate division of a legal entity located outside its location and performing all or part of its functions, including the functions of a representative office. Representative offices and branches must be indicated in the constituent documents of the legal entity that created them.
In Art. 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation includes a provision that claims for the protection of consumer rights can also be filed in court at the place of residence or place of stay of the plaintiff or at the place of conclusion or place of execution of the contract.
This norm basically reproduces Art. 17 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”, according to which the protection of consumer rights is carried out by the court; claims are brought to court at the place of residence of the plaintiff, or at the location of the defendant, or at the place where the harm was caused. At the same time, it somewhat expands the rules of this article.
This provision refers to claims for disputes arising from legal relations regulated by the said Law, therefore, for the correct application of the rule contained in Part 7 of Art. 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure, you must refer to this Law.
It should be borne in mind that the scope of regulation of this Law, and therefore the range of cases to which jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff extends, has been significantly expanded as a result of changes in the concept of “consumer” by the Federal Law of December 17, 1999, which added to the Law of the Russian Federation “On protection of consumer rights" significant changes and additions were made.
A consumer is a citizen who intends to order or purchase, or who orders, purchases or uses goods (work, services) exclusively for personal, family, household and other needs not related to business activities (preamble of the Law). Consequently, the effect of the said Law began to extend, in particular, to the claims of citizens to legal entities arising from contracts for the provision of financial services (except for contracts related to the implementation of business activities by citizens), which the courts had previously considered according to the general rule of territorial jurisdiction. This must also be taken into account when applying the new Code of Civil Procedure.
The requirements of citizens arising from contracts for the carriage of passengers and baggage are also subject to the rules of alternative jurisdiction. Rule Part 3 Art. 30 of the Civil Procedure Code on exclusive jurisdiction is not applicable here, since the mandatory filing of a claim against the carrier, at whose place the claim must be brought, is established only for claims arising from the transportation of goods; There is no mandatory filing of a claim before filing a claim arising from the carriage of passengers and baggage.
When applying the rules of jurisdiction established by the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Consumer Rights,” it should be borne in mind that jurisdiction can be changed by an agreement between the consumer and the manufacturer (performer, seller).
In this case, the rules of contractual jurisdiction will apply (Article 32), unless the court recognizes them as enslaving (for example, when the manufacturer, taking advantage of a monopoly position, imposed them on the consumer).
Previously, alternative jurisdiction was also established for claims for compensation for damage caused to the property of a citizen or legal entity (they could also be brought at the place where the damage occurred). In the commented article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, this norm is not preserved; therefore, these claims are brought according to the general rule of territorial jurisdiction.
The procedure for submitting an application for consideration to the arbitration court
The plaintiff party, having prepared all the documents and drawn up the application, sends the necessary documentation to the address of the actual location of the defendant party at the time of filing the application. Moreover, if the territorial arbitration court is located remotely from the address of the plaintiff party, then the latter has the right to file a claim in electronic form by telecommunications or by post with notification. The application and copies of all documents may be submitted for consideration to the judicial arbitration authorities at the location of the defendant party personally by the plaintiff.
At the same time, the arbitration court does not have the right to refuse to accept documents and claims if the latter are true and legal.
In cases where the dispute does not fall within the competence of the chosen court (for example, it turned out to be actually more complicated), then the arbitration court at the location or residence of the defendant party has the right to submit it for consideration to the authorized judicial authorities, notifying the parties to the dispute about this.
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What to do if your place of residence is unknown?
It becomes much more difficult to sue in a situation where it is not even possible to find out the whereabouts of the defendant. Of course, such scenarios are not at all uncommon. Moreover, often the plaintiff may not guess where the defendant may even be located, not to mention his place of residence. What to do in such a situation?
Everything is quite simple, because Art. 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation provides the answer to this question. If the defendant lives at an address unknown to you or has no place of residence in the Russian Federation at all, then the claim can be filed at the location of his property or at the address of his last known place of residence. Of course, if you don’t know this address, it’s solely because of the location of the defendant’s property.
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Even if you do not know the location of the defendant’s property, you have the opportunity to find out. Of course, you will need the help of a lawyer who will not only help you navigate the documents and case materials, but also tell you what to do in such a situation. And remember that there are no unsolvable situations, there is only a lack of desire to solve them. We are ready to provide you with legal assistance and protection.
