What is cassation in court? Samples of cassation appeal

People who defend their rights in court often ask the question of what cassation is. Let's try to give an accessible and most correct explanation.

Basic Concepts

Appeal and cassation are the next stages after the first instance. After the judicial reform of 2012, some lawyers themselves became a little confused about these terms, and many ordinary citizens are even less aware of them. So what is cassation? How is it different from the first two instances? Let's try to find out.

Cassation - second appeal?

Let's consider the concepts of appeal and cassation. What are the significant differences between them? Many even practicing lawyers mistakenly believe that cassation is the third attempt at judicial competition. “Special professionals” often only change the wording of the complaint from appellate to cassation, which rightly leads to negative results.

An appeal is the second instance of legal disputes. It considers decisions that have not yet entered into force. For example, the first instance is the district court. The losing party has the right to file an appeal to the Judicial Collegium within a month. It is submitted through the body that made the initial decision. obliged to consider the applicant's complaint. Only after this the decision of the first instance comes into force.

Cassation in civil proceedings is a special instance. It is submitted to what has already entered into. In addition, the authority is not obliged to consider the complaint at a meeting. It could all end in the office of a judge who has received a request to overturn a decision. You must submit a complaint:

  • To the presidiums of the subjects.
  • To the Supreme Court.

What is the significant difference from an appeal? identifies significant violations of procedural and substantive norms that influenced the outcome of the case. The applicant should not give any additional assessment of the evidence in the case. It's useless. If a citizen is sure that the court has not sufficiently examined the evidence, then you should not pay attention to this. If there are contradictions between witnesses in the case, for example, then the cassation will also ignore this. A more pointless exercise is to petition for the addition of new evidence to the case, even if it significantly affects the outcome. These are grounds for review at first instance. We hope that it now becomes clear what cassation is and how it differs from an appeal. Let's move on to another important difference.

Cassation: judge's determination

We have already noted that there are two instances within the cassation, however, within each complaint goes through three stages:

  • Formal stage - the complaint is considered from the point of view of the correctness of its content. It is necessary to attach to it the corresponding copies of the decisions of the first two instances. Must contain the name of the court to which it is filed, the applicant (plaintiff, defendant), as well as information about other persons in the case. In addition, the complaint must indicate all previous decisions, and it must list violations of procedural and substantive rules. At the end there is a request and an application.

  • Judge's determination. The applicant's complaint first goes to the judge. He does not see the case, since it is in the first instance. However, he is studying the arguments of the complaint and copies of the decisions of the two authorities. As a rule, at this stage everything ends. The panel is not required to meet when filing a complaint, unlike an appeal. Therefore, many destinies are ruined at this stage. Next, the judge decides whether or not to convene a judicial panel for consideration. In any case, his decision must be somehow motivated.
  • Meeting of the judicial panel. If the judge has decided to initiate cassation proceedings, then this good sign for the applicant. The panel of judges will meet. As a rule, she makes positive decisions for the applicant. However, practice shows that such cases are very few, less than 10 percent.

Cassation deadlines

To file a complaint, six months are given from the date the legal decision enters into force. For the uninitiated, let’s say that this is from the moment of the appeal, since if it is missed, there will be no chance for cassation. The period begins to be calculated on the next day after the announcement of the operative part. This means that, without having the justification for the appeal in hand, it is necessary to prepare for cassation. How to do this is another question, but the period begins to be calculated from this moment, and not from the day the determination is received in hand. The deadline for two cassation cases is the same. It is wrong to think that six months will be calculated anew after the regional Presidium. It is also impossible to file a complaint with the Supreme Court without going through the regional stage.

If the judge makes a ruling refusing to initiate cassation proceedings, then this will be the basis for filing a case with a higher authority. However, the Supreme Court has fewer rejected cases than all lower courts combined. Therefore, you need to think about whether it makes sense to do this.

Competence of cassation

The cassation authority has the right:

  • Reject the complaint, leave it without satisfaction.
  • Overturn the decision of the lower courts and remand the case for a new trial.
  • Make a new decision.

The last option is from the realm of fantasy, so a ruling on a new trial of the case is considered a victory at this stage. In this case, there is a chance for a fair resolution.

What is a violation of the law?

Particularly difficult is the concept of violation of legal norms. As for the material ones, it is necessary to identify such a violation as an incorrect interpretation of the law or the application of an unnecessary rule. For example, the court used articles from the civil code in family law.

As for procedural violations, examples may include:

  • Lack of protocol.
  • Violation of jurisdiction.
  • Violation of the principle of equality of parties, etc.

Thus, we hope that it has now become clear what cassation is and how it differs from an appeal. The main thing is that it is always necessary to seek justice by legal means.

Cassation or cassation proceedings is a type of procedural activity, which consists of checking by a higher court the correctness and legality decisions taken lower courts. The legal framework for the activities of such courts should be considered the civil procedural and arbitration procedural codes of the Russian Federation.

After the trial of the case in the court of first instance, the parties have inalienable right to appeal. If the case goes through this instance, it may end up in third-instance courts or cassation courts. Judicial cassation is nothing more than a guarantor of the protection of human rights from unlawful actions of the courts of the Russian Federation. Thus, cassation courts exercise control over lower authorities, striving to achieve the most fair and justified justice.

History of cassation

Cassation in the form in which it is known today originated in the 16th century. in France. In those days, there was a special form for filing a complaint with the authority - the Royal Council. As part of this petition, the subjects pointed out the inconsistency and invalidity of certain court decisions. According to the ordinance of 1667, cassation is a procedure for canceling decisions that contradict existing edicts and ordinances.

Subsequently, cassation continued its existence in the Western European legal family. Similar complaints became available in the British kingdom, however, a little later than in France. It should be said that, despite the change of power during the time of Napoleon, his constitution also found a place for this legal procedure. For domestic legislation, such a procedure became known after the collapse Soviet Union and the advent of democracy. On this moment, cassation proceedings are considered relatively new, therefore, the practical layer has not yet had time to form.

Cassation in criminal proceedings of the Russian Federation

So, as stated earlier, cases of the courts of first and appellate instances can be considered in cassation. The difference between an appeal and a cassation is that in the first case a decision in a case that has not entered into force is challenged. In the case of cassation, the decision in the case has already entered into force. Thus, a preliminary appeal hearing of the case is not necessary to file a cassation.

A criminal cassation may be filed by the following subjects of the proceedings: the convicted, the acquitted, their defense attorneys and other legal representatives, the prosecutor, the victim and his representative. If the case contains a civil claim, the civil plaintiff and his representative will have the right to cassation.

Cassation proceedings in criminal cases are conducted by the Judicial Collegiums of the constituent entities of the Federation and the Supreme Court, as well as the Cassation Collegium of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The period for cassation in criminal proceedings is: 10 days after the pronouncement of the verdict, and for persons in custody - 10 days after receiving a copy of the verdict. During of this production, the court is trying to identify inconsistencies in the court's conclusions regarding the verdict, regarding the facts in the case, and violations of current regulations. If any shortcomings are identified, he has the right to send the case for retrial, cancel the verdict or change it.

Cassation in civil proceedings of the Russian Federation

In the civil process of the Russian Federation, complaints and applications against any court decisions that have entered into legal force, except for decisions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, are considered by way of cassation. The deadline for filing a cassation in civil proceedings is 6 months from the date the resolution enters into legal force. The form for filing a cassation is indicated in Chapter 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

According to the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the reasons for canceling or changing court decisions are identified violations of substantive and procedural law, which, one way or another, influenced the court decision, the elimination of which will lead to the restoration and protection of rights, interests and freedoms.

It is worth noting that the majority of civil experts, both theorists and practitioners, consider the activities of this authority to be not yet effective enough. The fact is that cassation proceedings have only recently become familiar to domestic legal proceedings, therefore, the lack of experience affects its activities.

Cassation in arbitration proceedings

It is logical that in the arbitration industry, as well as in criminal and civil, the cassation review body deals with complaints against decisions of courts of first and appellate instances. The body for considering a cassation appeal is the federal arbitration court of the arbitration district. A complaint can be filed no later than 2 months from the date the court decision enters into legal force.

As part of cassation proceedings, the court is faced with the task of verifying the legality of previously made decisions, the correct application existing standards and the feasibility of their use. That is, the court needs to check the connection between the applied rules and the circumstances of the case.

In the event that the court discovers inconsistencies between the court's decisions and the actual circumstances of the case, violations of the rules of law, both procedural and substantive, it has the right to cancel the decision with the subsequent termination of consideration of this case or re-examination, as well as change the decision. In addition, the court may ignore the cassation appeal itself, determining that the grounds indicated in it for canceling or changing the decision are insufficient.

Conclusion

Based on the above, we can conclude that subjects of domestic legal proceedings have the right to appeal even decisions of the courts of the Russian Federation that have entered into force. An appeal to the court may be filed under certain circumstances related to the illegality of the actions of lower courts. It is important to remember that during the cassation process new evidence or materials are not added to the case, the point is to verify an existing case and known circumstances. Filing a cassation guarantees citizens the protection of their rights from encroachment by the courts; in this aspect, cassation courts exercise control and supervision over lower authorities. In the event that new evidence and facts are revealed regarding an already considered case, the decision on which has entered into legal force, such consideration is carried out not by the cassation court, but by the court of first instance, as part of legal proceedings in connection with newly identified circumstances.

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Cassation is the third and fourth instance in the judicial process of courts of general jurisdiction (the second is the appellate instance). An article on our website dedicated to the appellate instance will help you understand the difference between cassation and appeal in civil proceedings.

To explain the essence of cassation in civil proceedings, we will give examples of cassation courts. The claim was filed in the magistrate's court, and as a result of its consideration, a refusal was issued. The decision was appealed to the city court and the appellate ruling was left unchanged. The cassation authority in in this case will be the highest court of the subject (for example, the Moscow Regional Court for the Moscow Region and the City Court of St. Petersburg for St. Petersburg).

You can also give an example when the application was initially submitted to the city court and the requirements were denied. The appeal ruling of the region's highest court left the decision unchanged. In this case, just as in the case of the initial filing of a claim in the magistrate’s court, the third instance will be the highest court of the subject, only with a different composition of judges in relation to the one considering the appeal.

Filing a cassation appeal

Where to start when you have in your hands the decision and determination of the courts of first and second instance? How to draw up and submit a cassation appeal?

First of all, it should be noted that the deadline for filing a cassation in civil proceedings is quite long and in most cases is six months from the date of the appeal ruling. The cassation appeal must indicate which decisions of previous instances are being appealed and the case numbers. It should also indicate which rules of law were applied incorrectly or were not applied at all, and for what reasons they are subject to application in this trial.

A cassation appeal should be submitted directly to the court that will consider it. As mentioned above, based on the result of consideration of the complaint, the judge alone makes a decision either to transfer the case for consideration or to refuse to transfer it for consideration. If the complaint is submitted to the board for consideration, the determination will indicate the date and time of the court hearing.

Features of the case consideration

It is worth considering that the cassation court does not re-evaluate the facts that were established by the first instance and the appeal. Therefore, it is recommended to refer specifically to the incorrect application of substantive and procedural legislation.

For example, the court of first and second instance, following a claim by the district administration for the demolition of an unauthorized building, established that there is an unauthorized building on the land plot. Under such circumstances, it will be unlikely to challenge the fact of erecting a structure on a land plot in cassation, but the rules of law on the basis of which the structure was recognized as unauthorized may be subjected to a new analysis. However, we should not forget that serious procedural violations could have led to an incorrect assessment of the facts, which can and should be referred to when appealing.

Second cassation in civil proceedings

It will be quite difficult to appeal the decision of the court of first instance, left unchanged by the appellate ruling, but it is still possible. The main problem when filing a cassation appeal is that 99% of them are not submitted to the panel of judges at all, since the judge, by his ruling, refuses to transfer the complaint to the cassation court for consideration, while giving a fairly brief reasoning.



It is important to know that refusal to transfer a case does not exhaust the rights to cassation appeal; a cassation appeal can consist of two parts. If the first one is refused, the second cassation in civil proceedings (exactly the same) is submitted to the Supreme Court. In this case, you must manage to meet the general six-month deadline established for a cassation appeal.

Having analyzed the concept of cassation in civil proceedings, in conclusion we once again emphasize that when preparing a cassation appeal, you should not simply duplicate statement of claim and an appeal, pointing out in detail the illegality of the actions of the defendant or plaintiff. The complaint must focus on the court's errors made when making a decision or appellate ruling.

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Appeal and cassation are different concepts, defining the principle and procedure for assessing the court’s decision regarding the application of penalties to the defendant and ensuring compensation for losses incurred by the plaintiff. In both cases, legal proceedings are conducted according to a specific scenario, which has a number of limitations and nuances.

Appealing a court decision

Understanding how an appeal differs from a cassation, what characteristics procedures in comparison with the primary paperwork, you can more thoroughly prepare for collecting evidence and present it correctly at the first stage of consideration of the case. This solution will avoid wasting time and money on payment. public services, as well as refusal to consider an additional package of information that was not provided at the first hearing of the case due to a careless attitude to the situation.

What is an appeal

An appeal against a court decision, which at the time the event was initiated, did not yet have legal force, is called an appeal. The procedure is relevant in situations of violation of the rights of the defendant or plaintiff. Challenging can be carried out strictly within a certain period, the duration of which depends on the type of paperwork. A complaint from a party who believes that its rights have been violated is submitted to a higher authority after payment of the state fee.

A full appeal is typical for situations in which the verdict and all elements of evidence that led to its adoption are subject to appeal. In a limited appeal, claims are made only to certain sections of the court's opinion.

When considering a submitted application that has the nature of a complaint, claim or request to sort out the situation, the court may cancel the original conclusion and make a new one, radically different from the appealed decision. The plaintiff in the retrial can be any party to the case in the first court.

Appeal

After receiving the documents, representatives of the authorized bodies evaluate their contents and, if necessary, create a meeting, the purpose of which is to consider the application and make adjustments to the primary decision. If judicial specialists consider it pointless to reconsider the case, they will ignore it, notify the plaintiff about this and explain to him the reason for their actions.

In criminal proceedings, new evidence can be added to the proceedings only if it could not be presented to the court during the consideration of the main case. For civil procedural cases, such a scheme for the development of the appeal situation is not relevant.

The date of entry into force of the appeal decision is the day of its announcement in court. It can only be challenged through higher authorities.

Cassation is applied after the court decision enters into force. Its purpose is to challenge the decision of the authorized body of the lower authority. During the implementation of the event, the initial and appeal decisions are subject to review. For cassation there is also a period of appeal, depending on the scope of application of the law. Its duration can be up to six months after the decision enters into force.

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To initiate an event, the interested party in the proceedings must contact the cassation court. The study of the claim and the case in respect of which it is made is carried out supreme court. Its representatives can decide whether cases should be sent for review or not.

Cassation

Court representatives consider only previously taken into account facts. A new decision during cassation is almost never made. If doubts arise about the legality of a decision, it is sent for review to representatives of the authorized body who previously specialized in its preparation.

Cassation proceedings in the arbitration process perform procedural and organizational functions.

The main purpose of its implementation is to monitor compliance with the law when determining the positions of the conclusion. This does not take into account circumstances that became known after the decision of the appellate court entered into force. Control of the activities of lower courts must be carried out in accordance with the principle of independence of judges.

The subjects of the paperwork are the persons who are its direct participants, as well as citizens regarding whose rights and obligations a decision was made. Witnesses of the incident and experts can additionally take part in the appeal, which is not typical for cassation.

Re-examination of the claim can be carried out according to two schemes, depending on the status of the decision and on previously applied measures to resolve the situation.

A complaint from the perspective of an appeal is submitted to the judicial department in which the proceedings were conducted and the contested decision was made. It is subject to mandatory review. As a result of the event, the original decision may be canceled due to the issuance of a new conclusion or the closure of the case.

The appeal will be ignored bailiffs when submitting it regarding a decision that has already entered into force, which is relevant when applying a month after its adoption. An interested person can only make a complaint or request to review the case once under this scheme.

Cassation is a procedure for the third review of a court decision.

Its purpose is to study the case materials to identify the actions of authorized employees and their decisions as legal. To protect his interests, a person can file two cassation appeals in different courts. They can be considered within six months from the date the decision acquired legal force. A new resolution is almost never adopted.

Differences between filing applications in courts of different instances

When making an initial appeal to the court, the plaintiff must state in detail the essence of the issue in the application and attach to it documents related to the category of evidence. In the appeal, the essence of the problem is briefly reflected. It is necessary to refer to the possibility of familiarizing yourself with the details of the circumstances in the documents of the first case.

The appeal statement focuses on the violation of the rights of one of the parties to the proceedings due to their mistakes in interpreting the case materials and comparing them with the provisions of the legislative framework.

Inaccuracies and errors must be reviewed for each item. If during the initial proceedings the court representatives did not accept any papers that have the nature of evidence, then the application must describe in detail the circumstances, the essence of the claim and attach documents relating to the subject of the disputed situation.

Appeal

If the re-examination of the case does not satisfy the plaintiff’s claim on appeal, then in order to achieve his rights, he must file the following complaint with the court of cassation. Before making such a decision, legal counsel should be consulted to determine the appropriateness of the process and legal positions in the area of ​​consideration.

All stages of appeal trials are aimed at finding and achieving justice. First, the case is examined on its merits in an appeal, and cassation can be called an extraordinary procedure in which errors in legal proceedings are examined. In domestic legislation, this is an extremely ambiguous and controversial section. Why? How does cassation work in Russian civil proceedings?

Main points of cassation appeal

Cassation is the stage of appealing a decision (decision, ruling) following an appeal, the third instance. The Court of Cassation is seen as a means of correcting possible miscarriages of justice.

Its main provisions and individual nuances are described:

  • in the Russian Civil Procedure Code, Ch. 41;
  • in Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 29, adopted in December 2012.

The following are subject to cassation:

  • received legal force decisions of district and magistrate courts;
  • rulings made by the 2nd instance, including refusal to consider appeals;
  • court orders as separate legal acts.

Regulations are a broad concept; it includes:

  • the court ruling itself;
  • solutions;
  • definitions.

Cases that have not been appealed are not accepted for review by cassation (all possible appeal options have not been used). Such complaints are returned to the submitter and a ruling is made. There are a few exceptions here:

  1. A citizen who did not take part in the second instance, but whose rights were violated by its determination, can file for cassation without appeal - such complaints will be considered.
  2. Also, court orders are considered outside the rules of jurisdiction, since the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation does not provide for an appeal for individual acts.

In accordance with the rule of jurisdiction, courts of 3rd instance also operate. Cassation refers to the general appeal process that follows the appeal: the participant in the case is given the right to appeal not only to the Presidium of the regional court, but also to “go” further - to the Supreme Court, and then to the European Court. However, each stage is impossible without completing the previous ones.

All citizens involved in the case whose interests, rights or freedoms were affected, including those who did not participate in the appeal, have the right to complain to the cassation. The prosecutor has the right to submit a proposal.

The arbitrators of those instances that considered the case earlier are deprived of the right to cassation appeal.

Deadline for filing an application to the cassation office

You can complain to the cassation within 6 months from the date when the resolution or determination receives legal force (after an appeal, according to the law, this happens immediately).

This period is common to all stages of cassation. Thus, if an application was submitted and considered by the Presidium of a regional court of the Russian Federation and the result did not satisfy the applicant, he has the right to appeal to the collegium of the Russian Armed Forces, but must meet the six-month deadline. Thus, after rejecting a complaint in the first cassation, it is not always possible to send it to the RF Supreme Court precisely because of lack of time.

The cashier should consider:

  1. The six-month period does not take into account the time that the case was actually in the court of cassation, unless the application was returned to the applicant, for example due to formal violations.
  2. The calculation of the period may also include the time elapsed between the announcement in the appeal of the operative part of the determination and the motivational part, if it does not exceed 5 days.
  3. Transfer of materials between authorities, request and certification of cases, preparation of a complaint are not included in the 6 months.

The main problem of cassation in the Russian Federation is that in fact the citizen has much less than 6 months of time, and for the second stage of appeal in the 3rd instance - very little.

If the time has expired, a satisfied petition for renewal of the period under Article 112 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation is submitted along with the application.

The request is submitted to the first instance. It should indicate the reasons for being late. Such objective motives include, for example, serious illness or incapacity. According to the law, a copy of the cassation appeal must be attached to the request, however, for many reasons, lawyers do not want to do this (due to its lack of preparation, unwillingness to disclose to the arbitrators the essence of procedural objections, etc.). Then it is permissible to indicate in the text that the application in the prescribed manner will be transferred to the 3rd instance at the request of clause 3 of Art. 112 Code of Civil Procedure of Russia.

A satisfied petition is added to the cassation case.

Appeal procedure

The application is submitted directly to the cassation office according to the principle of jurisdiction:

  • to the Presidium of the regional court, if its appellate rulings, as well as decisions of district and magistrate arbitrators that have received legal force, orders are appealed;
  • to the Judicial Collegium of the RF Armed Forces for Civil Cases, if a ruling is being appealed, a resolution that has previously passed the first cassation, as well as decisions of regional courts acting as the initial instance that have received legal force.

According to the principle of jurisdiction, only after the Presidium of the regional court can an application be submitted to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Copies of all decisions taken in the case, sealed with a blue seal, are attached to the complaint. If the application is submitted by a representative, a notarized power of attorney should be prepared defining his powers.

Additionally, you must submit a receipt for payment of the state fee (duty) under Art. 333.19 Tax Code of the Russian Federation:

  • 150 rub. for individuals;
  • 3000 rub. for organizations.



The filed complaint is examined by the chairman of the regional court of the Russian Federation or his deputy, a federal judge. It is within his authority to proceed with the case or return the application without verification. This stage can be called "filtration". The preliminary examination takes place individually, without invitation or hearing of the parties. The law does not say whether a judge is fate decider a complaint, a member of the cassation commission, or not; In addition, the criteria for the “admissibility” of a case are highly dependent on human factor- subjective assessment of this arbitrator.

This paragraph contains some contradiction to the principle of “the guaranteed right to trial of every citizen”: in fact, the initial consideration of the application is carried out by one arbitrator, although, by law, this should be done by a collegial body.

The judge studying the case has the opportunity to suspend the execution of the sentence (decision) in the case, but not on his own initiative, but only if the complaint contains a corresponding request.

The arbitrator may remand the case from the lower courts where it was heard. Within the next business day after receiving the request, all materials are sent to the cassation office.

How to file a complaint to the cassation office

The complaint must contain the following:

  • addressee - the department of the court to which it is sent (for example, “Moscow Regional Court” - the 3rd instance for cases heard in the Moscow Region);
  • Full name, place of registration or actual location of the applicant, his relationship to the case (defendant, plaintiff, etc.). If the person did not appear in the proceedings, it is necessary to prove the admissibility of the complaint on his behalf to the cassation: explain in detail how the decision or ruling affected him personally;
  • an indication of all persons involved in the inspection (their full name, address);
  • a list of authorities that the case went through, their results;
  • aspect of the case subject to appeal;
  • a listing of the violated norms of substantive and/or procedural law, indicating how this affected the outcome of the case;
  • please send for reconsideration or make a decision.



The text of the application to the cassation should not repeat the appeal. Essentially, these documents emphasize different things. References to incorrect interpretation of arguments, evidence and facts will cause the application to be rejected at the “filtering” stage. But it is advisable not only to highlight errors of procedural and substantive law in the text in bold, but also to begin the statement with their description.

Limits of consideration in cassation

Non-compliance legal norms are considered to a certain extent in Art. 378 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. These include:

  • application of a law that could not be applied (for example, it is outdated);
  • non-use normative act which needed to be used (for example, it follows from a precedent or is mandatory in accordance with the decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court);
  • incorrect interpretation of the law (contrary to judicial practice etc.);
  • consideration of the case in illegal composition arbitrators;
  • non-invitation of interested parties to meetings;
  • lack of court records;
  • lack of signatures of arbitrators;
  • non-compliance with language rules (for example, the case involved foreigners who were not provided with an interpreter);
  • violation of investigative secrecy, etc.

Lawyers say that such gross violations of substantive and procedural law are extremely rare and are considered a real “gift” for a lawyer. Basically, whether a legal norm has been violated or not, whether this is sufficient to cancel a ruling or determination, is a subjective assessment of the 3rd instance arbitrators.

Violations of legal norms that did not affect the outcome of the case are not considered grounds for transferring it for review. That is, in addition to pointing out these errors, it is necessary to prove in the text of the complaint that their correction will lead to a different result.


The powers of the cassation include the consideration of possible violations of the law indicated by the applicant. Facts, circumstances, evidence in the 3rd instance are not analyzed; The court's opinion on how the case should be resolved is also not taken into account. That is, the cassation board is not obliged and will not evaluate the validity of the decision, for example, to look at whether the evidence is significant or not. Only the legality of the decision is considered - the compliance of the actions of the arbitrator regulations. Speaking in simple words, cassation is a “trial of a court.”

If new circumstances or evidence appear, they will not be taken into account in the cassation. In this case, the review of the case takes place according to the rules described in Chapter. 42 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

Even if the previous decisions were made in accordance with all the rules, and the chances of cassation are very small, it is worth filing a complaint: after this, the applicant will have the opportunity to go further, that is, to appeal to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the European Court of Human Rights.

Procedure and powers of the court of cassation

Cassation cases in the Presidiums of regional courts of the Russian Federation are reviewed within a month or two, if the case was requested. For the Judicial Collegium of the Supreme Court, a period of 60 and 90 days is established, respectively, while, at the request of the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the period can be increased by 2 months due to its complexity.

The decision on the case is made collectively; If the number of votes “for” and “against” is equal, the complaint is considered to be rejected.

In a court of third instance, only the evidence that appeared in the first instance can be presented.

According to the Civil Procedure Code, the cassation court has the following powers:

  • satisfy the complaint in whole or in part by sending the case for secondary consideration to one of the previous authorities;
  • reject without consideration;
  • overturn the decision of previous instances and complete the proceedings;
  • cancel previous decisions in whole or in part and make a new one (allowed only if there is all the necessary evidence for this and there is no need to re-evaluate it).



The arguments are analyzed within the scope of the complaint; the legality of court decisions in the undisputed part is not considered. At the same time, if the disputed part is closely related to the others, they will also be subject to study.

The cassation proceeds from the circumstances accepted by the first instance and does not examine the evidence for priority and reliability. Its conclusions must be taken into account by the court, where the case goes for a second hearing.

This aspect is especially relevant if, for example, the first instance rejected the results of the examination as not affecting the case, guided by some legislative norm: the cassation may decide otherwise, using analogues from practice. In this case, when the case is reconsidered, the expert assessment will be accepted and will affect the result.

Some controversial issues of cassation

There are a lot of disputes regarding appeals in civil cases in the Russian Federation. For example, some questions arise about “double cassation,” that is, the powers of the judge who initially hears the case.

It is legally determined that the arbitrator of the subject’s court or the Supreme Court either transfers it to a collegial consideration or sends it back. In case of refusal in a regional or equivalent court, the next stage of appeal is the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (the opportunity to challenge it is not provided). But if the application has not passed the filtering stage in the Supreme Court, the applicant has the right to appeal directly to the Chairman or his deputy with a private objection (Article 381 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation states that these arbitrators may not share the opinion of the judge who studied the complaint, and still send it to cassation ).

These nuances are not specified in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, but are defined in the recommendations of the Supreme Court. A private complaint to the Chairman is a cassation complaint, for which you must pay a state fee. There is no need to attach copies of the QOL to this document: all papers are stored in the archives of the RF Armed Forces. However, the time limit for reviewing this complaint is within a 6-month period.

Another controversial issue concerns procedural deadlines and the “interdependence” of local territorial courts. The initial review, appeal and the first stage of cassation often take place even in the same building, and only in the RF Armed Forces can one count on a certain objectivity. However, to take the case outside the region means to indicate the incompetence of local lawyers. This is a common point of view.

The desire to “not wash dirty linen in public” is expressed in the fact that the courts are delaying the process as best they can: the time to certify materials with a blue seal sometimes reaches two months, for example. A solution to this problem could be to set separate deadlines for each instance, however, this would contradict the principle of “reasonable duration of proceedings.”

The cassation procedure in the Russian Federation is still quite ambiguous. Winning a case in this instance is the highest achievement for any lawyer. Controversial issues are to some extent taken into account in the Concept of the Unified Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, which unifies civil, administrative and arbitration procedures in Russia.

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