Review and appeal of a decision in absentia in civil proceedings: the practice of the Supreme Court

Abstract

The study focuses on the problematic issues that arise in the practice of civil courts when reviewing and appealing against a default judgment in civil proceedings. The aim of the article is to study the problematic issues that arise in judicial practice, when reviewing and appealing a judgment by default, in particular, the powers of the court of first instance and the court of appeal when considering an applica­tion for review of a default judgment that has been submitted in violation of the deadlines for its submission without valid reasons, as well as the procedural features of entry of the public prosecutor in a case in the interest of the State represented by the defen­dant by appealing the judgment by default. Metho­dologically, the study is based on two scientific and advisory conclusions of the author of the article, which were prepared in response to the appeal of the Supreme Court, in particular, the appeal of the Judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court O. V. Stupak in case No. 756/11081/20, proceedings No. 14-25ts24 regarding the powers of the court of first instance in the case of an application for review of a default judgment with a missed deadline in the absence of valid reasons, and the appeal of the Chairman of the Civil Court of Cassation B. I. Gulko in case No. 183/8338/21, proceedings No. 61-198svo24 on the interpretation and application of Articles 284, 287 of the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine in terms of powers of the prosecutor. The article examines the controversial issues of law enforcement from the practical and theoretical points of view and offers the authorʼs vision of ways to overcome them. The article consists of two parts, the first of which is devoted to the problem of the correlation of the powers of the court of first instance and the court of appeal when considering an application for review of a default judgment with missing the deadline for submitting such an application without valid reasons and the subsequent appeal of the default judgment in this case; the second part concerns the issue of the necessity for the prosecutor to prior submit an application for review of еру default judgment in case where the prosecutor intervenes in the case in the interests of the state represented by the defendant.