The plaintiff is represented by the person who files the lawsuit. The application shall indicate certain requirements and requests that may be satisfied by the judge. During the trial, the presence of the plaintiff is mandatory, but often situations arise when a person for various reasons cannot come to court. If the plaintiff did not appear at the hearing, then the case may be considered without him, but sometimes the process is postponed. Moreover, in some situations, a citizen may be held liable for violation of the requirements of the law.
Highlights
If, for one reason or another, the person who is the plaintiff cannot attend the meeting, then he must warn the judiciary. He must explain the reason for the failure to appear, as well as transmit documents confirming this reason.
If a citizen has not submitted the necessary papers to the court, then the reason for failure to appear shall be recognized as disrespectful. This may result in a fine or a meeting without a plaintiff. Under such conditions, the requests specified in the lawsuit are usually not satisfied. Therefore, if the plaintiff did not appear at the hearing, then he may face some negative consequences. Absenteeism is permitted only with good reason.
Legislative regulation
The basic information about how the process is conducted in case the plaintiff does not appear at the hearing are prescribed in Art. 167 Code of Civil Procedure. From this normative statement follows:
- each person who is a participant in a particular case must warn the court in advance of the reason for the absence, and it must be respectful and confirmed by official documents;
- if there are no persons who were not timely notified of the case, then the trial is adjourned;
- if citizens did not come to court without good reason, then the process is conducted without them;
- the court may consider cases in the absence of the defendant, but only on condition that he has been officially notified of the place and date of the meeting;
- each party has the right to send a petition, on the basis of which a particular case will be considered in their absence.
If the representative of the plaintiff did not appear at the hearing without good reason, then the procedure is carried out without him.
What reasons are valid?
There are many reasons why the plaintiff does not appear at the hearing, but not all of them are valid. The meeting is adjourned if the citizen cannot come for the following reasons:
- the person has not received a summons or notice of the meeting;
- the summons arrived late by mail, for example, directly on the day of the process or the next day;
- the participant in the process becomes ill, but this must be confirmed by official documents received at the medical institution;
- a close relative falls ill, for example, a minor child;
- the occurrence of any emergency;
- a citizen is in another city in the country;
- the person was sent to another state or a remote region on a long official trip;
- there is no opportunity to come to court due to poor transport connections.
Before the start of any court session, the secretary transfers to the judge information about which of the participants is absent, as well as the reasons for which the citizens could not come to the hearing are announced.Therefore, if the plaintiff did not appear at the hearing for good reasons, then the process is postponed. If there are no good reasons for the absence, then the procedure is carried out without one participant.
What if the witness did not come?
Not only the plaintiff may for various reasons not come to the meeting. During the trial, the judge often interrogates witnesses who can provide important information about a particular case. Eyewitnesses, other victims, or experts may be involved as interrogators.
If the witness does not come to the meeting, then this will delay the process. In this case, the degree of importance of his testimony is assessed. If the witness is considered important, then he will not be able to evade giving evidence, since in his absence the judge simply will not be able to examine the case in detail. If a citizen has no good reason for not appearing, then he will have to pay an additional large fine for opposing the investigation.
Features for administrative processes
The consequences of the plaintiff’s failure to attend the administrative hearing are presented by the fact that the court postpones the proceedings, but only if the citizen has good reasons or provided that he was not notified of the date and place of the proceedings.
If there are no significant grounds for absenteeism, an absentee decision is made, for which the testimony of the defendant and witnesses is evaluated. In addition, the judge considers all the evidence attached to the claim.
Nuances for Civil Affairs
In civil cases, a situation often arises when the plaintiff did not appear at the hearing. The consequences of this decision depend on various factors:
- if all parties were informed in a timely manner about the process, then in the absence of any citizen, the court can make an absentee, but reasoned decision;
- in civil cases, the plaintiff who did not attend the hearing often loses because the court often makes a decision in favor of the party present because it cannot evaluate the position of the second participant;
- during the adoption of the decision in absentia, expert opinions, testimonies of witnesses, as well as various evidence in the case under consideration are taken into account;
- if the non-appearance is not considered intentional, but is due to the lack of notification or other significant circumstances, the plaintiff may file a claim demanding to cancel the decision taken in absentia.
Most often in civil cases the parties do not come to the meetings during divorce proceedings. When issuing an absentee decision, the opinion of only one spouse is taken into account, but the court must evaluate the interests of minor children, if any, of the participants in the process.
When is a lawsuit not considered in civil proceedings?
Under certain conditions, the plaintiff’s non-appearance at the hearing ends with the fact that the lawsuit simply remains without consideration. This is done in the following situations:
- the plaintiff, for various reasons, refused the mandatory pre-trial procedure for resolving the conflict, for example, he had not previously transferred to the organization with which he had disagreements a pre-trial claim;
- The lawsuit was drafted by an incompetent citizen;
- the application is signed or filed by a person who does not have the appropriate authority;
- a similar claim had previously been filed in which a case had already been instituted, therefore the requirements, requests and grounds remained unchanged;
- an agreement has already been drawn up between the parties, on the basis of which the case has been referred to the arbitration court;
- participants who did not send a motion to hold a meeting in their absence did not attend the hearing;
- the plaintiff without good reason twice did not come to the meeting, and there is evidence that he received a notification, and the defendant does not need to consider this case.
Under these conditions, the court does not make any decision, as it simply refuses to consider the case materials. Therefore, if a person makes a statement of claim for various reasons, then he must responsibly approach his obligations. These include the need to attend court hearings on time.
How many times can I skip a meeting?
If a person has a good reason for skipping a lawsuit, the court will adjourn the hearing. The consequences of repeated non-appearance of the plaintiff at the hearing are the same as with the initial absence from the process.
The transfer is carried out three times, after which the decision is made without the plaintiff.
Are fines paid?
If the plaintiff did not appear at the hearing, then he is usually not held accountable, as judges are tolerant of this situation. They meet even those parties to the process that do not have good reasons for not appearing.
If it is recognized that a person maliciously avoids visiting the court, then, in addition to making an absentee decision, other negative measures of influence may be applied. They are represented by the forced drive of a person to a meeting. This usually applies to defendants or witnesses.
Additionally, based on Art. 165 CC may be fined. The sanction is charged when considering civil or administrative cases, and its size is equal to 1 thousand rubles. If important witnesses or defendants do not come to a criminal case, then the size of the fine increases to 2.5 thousand rubles.
Conclusion
If the plaintiff for various reasons does not come to trial, then he may face negative consequences. The meeting may be adjourned or held without the plaintiff, as a result of which an absentee decision is made. In some cases, a lawsuit is not considered by a judge.
In certain situations, participants in the process who did not come and the court may be held accountable, so they are forced to pay a penalty for failure to appear and force to attend the meeting.
