INDIVIDUAL IN BUSINESS PROCESS

During the protection of their rights within the economic process, plaintiffs have to face rather unpleasant aspects that significantly slow down the process of consideration of the case on the merits, create additional expenses, and lawyers have to do extra work.

We are talking about cases when one of the defendants in the economic process is a natural person. The commercial court can simply return the claim by referring to Article 4 of the Commercial Code of Ukraine, despite the fact that the said article clearly provides that a natural person can also apply to the court. While commercial courts point out that a natural person as such cannot be a party to a commercial process and that within the framework of one case (for example, protection of business reputation), where, say, a legal entity was disseminated false information by another legal entity, and then on on the basis of such disseminated false information, an individual shoots, for example, video material and publishes information on his monetized YouTube channel, which causes significant damage to the business reputation of the person who is the plaintiff.

That is, in the above example, it can be seen that according to some judges of the commercial court, a legal entity that has suffered violations of its rights as a result of the actions of another legal entity, which resulted in similar violations of rights on the part of a natural person, must protect its rights according to the rules of civil procedure. The result of a similar legal position of individual judges, as mentioned above, is the return of the statement of claim, regardless of the considerable amount of the amount paid as a court fee.

In our opinion, such a legal position does not correspond to the principles of economic litigation. In addition, the Supreme Court, as a member of the panel of judges of the Cassation Economic Court, in its decision dated May 30, 2018 in case № 910/32742/15, noted the following:

According to the provisions of the first part of Article 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine (as amended until 15.12.2017), enterprises, institutions, organizations, other legal entities (including foreign ones), citizens who carry out entrepreneurial activities without creating a legal entity and in accordance with the established procedure have acquired of the status of a subject of entrepreneurial activity (hereinafter - enterprises and organizations), have the right to apply to the commercial court in accordance with the established sub-department of economic affairs for the protection of their violated or disputed rights and interests protected by law, as well as to take the measures provided for by this Code, aimed at preventing offense.

According to Article 21 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine (in the same edition), the parties in the legal process are the plaintiff and the defendant.

Plaintiffs are enterprises and organizations specified in Article 1 of this Code that have filed a lawsuit or in whose interests a lawsuit has been filed for the protection of a violated or contested right or an interest protected by law.

Defendants are legal entities and, in the cases provided for by this Code, natural persons who have been presented with a legal claim.

Our lawyers and advocates can ensure the protection of your interests in the commercial court and other instances. Our advantage is work for results. Make an appointment with our lawyer by phone +38 (073) 007-44-13