A time limit has been established for filing a motion for reconsideration of a specific case with the Russian Supreme Court

Pepeliaev Group informs you that a time limit has been set for filing a motion with the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice of the Russian Supreme Court in the case of a refusal to refer a cassation appeal for consideration by the Judicial Chamber of the Russian Supreme Court. This time limit may not exceed two months, which is the statutory timeframe for filing a cassation appeal^[1].

The procedure for filing with the Russian Supreme Court a cassation appeal against a judicial decision on a economic dispute provides that within two months after the circuit court issues a resolution on the case, the parties may file a cassation appeal with the Russian Supreme Court (articles 291.1(1) and 291.2 of the Russian Commercial Procedure Code).

A Justice of the Russian Supreme Court examines the appeal within two months (or three months if the case records are requested from another court), following which he or she issues a ruling to either refer the case for the consideration by the Judicial Chamber of the Russian Supreme Court or to refuse such a transfer (article 291.6(7) of the Russian Commercial Procedure Code).

In the case of a refusal to refer the case for the consideration by the Judicial Chamber, the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice may disagree with the ruling of the judge and dismiss it by his or her own ruling and transfer the case to be considered by the Judicial Chamber (article 291.6(8)). However, legislation on judicial proceedings in arbitration courts establishes neither a procedure nor time limits for such a ruling to be issued.

In practice, the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice uses this power when a party to the case files a motion with him or her. Neither are any time limits established for such motion (petition) to be filed.

In the past this approach resulted in situations where a party could file a motion with the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice a long time after the refusal to refer the case for the consideration by the Judicial Chamber, and the Chief Justice could consider this motion for an indefinite time.

Legal position of the Russian Constitutional Court

The Russian Constitutional Court has clarified that the constitutional and legal meaning of article 291.6(8) of the Russian Commercial Procedure Code implies that “motions of interested parties to the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice of the Russian Supreme Court with a request to disagree with a ruling of a Justice of the Russian Supreme Court to refuse a referral of a cassation appeal or a representation for the consideration by a Judicial Chamber of the Russian Supreme Court and to issue a ruling to dismiss such refusal and to perform this procedural action may be filed only as properly drafted cassation appeals or representations within the two-month time limit established by the law for cassation appeals; when this time period is calculated, the time for the cassation appeal or representation to be considered by the cassation body of the Russian Supreme Court should not be taken into account”.

The Russian Constitutional Court has stated that a similar approach was developed earlier in the framework of regulating the procedure set out in the Russian Civil Procedure Code for filing appeals with the Russian Supreme Court.

What to think about and what to do

At present, no amendments to the Russian Commercial Procedure Code have been adopted that would regulate the procedure for filing motions with the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice of the Russian Supreme Court. However, the Russian Supreme Court is already using in its work the approach established by the Russian Constitutional Court.

In this regard, the following should be taken into account:

• The two-month time limit applies in fact to preparing two appeals: the cassation appeal itself and an appeal to the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice of the Russian Supreme Court against a ruling of the Justice to refuse a referral of the cassation appeal for the consideration by the Judicial Chamber. Therefore, when you prepare and file a cassation appeal, you need to calculate the time so that in the case of a refusal, sufficient time remains to file an appeal with the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice.
• At present, the Russian Tax Code contains no direct requirement to pay state duty. However, the Russian Constitutional Court has equated the legal status of an appeal against a ruling of a Justice with a cassation appeal and, therefore, when an appeal is filed against a ruling of a Justice, the Russian Supreme Court requires evidence that state duty has been paid for the consideration of this appeal by the Chief Justice or a Deputy Chief Justice in the amount established for the consideration of a cassation appeal.
• If the time limit is already past due, appellants have a right to file a petition for a time extension arguing that the time limit has only been set by a Resolution of the Russian Constitutional Court dated 12 July 2018 (articles 291.2 and 117 of the Russian Commercial Procedure Code), the content of which is contrary to the previous practice used by both the Russian Supreme Court and the Russian Constitutional Court itself (rulings No. 1358-O, 1387-O and 1388-O dated 27 June 2017 and No. 2042-O dated 28 September 2017).