What can you do against a court order?

A judicial ruling is a binding decision at the end of a procedure. So you have to abide by it. It can happen that you disagree with the judge's decision. Or you may find that your lawyer has not presented the correct facts or has not been able to give a proper legal interpretation of those facts. What can you do if you disagree with the verdict? In procedural law, there are a number of remedies that can be used to overturn the ruling with which you disagree.

Closed system of remedies

In the Netherlands, we have a closed system of remedies. On the one hand, this means that there are only those remedies that are provided by law. On the other hand, it means that only one legal remedy is available each time. So you cannot choose: the law determines in which case which legal remedy must be used. The various remedies are discussed below.

Opposition to default judgment

If a party fails to appear in the proceedings, the court will hold against that party default. The court then issues a default judgment. Usually the plaintiff's claim is then awarded in full, because the defendant did not file a defense. The legal remedy then available is called ‘opposition. By making an objection, the proceedings are reopened. The convicted person has four weeks to file an opposition. See the article on default, default judgment and opposition for more information on opposition. Please note, however, that if there were multiple defendants and one of them did appear, then opposition is not possible because the judgment is then considered an adversary judgment. About that situation goes this blog.

Appeal

In most cases, the defendant or respondent will simply appear in the lawsuit. At the end of the lawsuit, the court or cantonal court render a judgment (at a subpoena proceedings) or in an order (at a application procedure). This is then called an adversarial judgment. Against such a judgment stands appeal open. On appeal, the substance of the case is reassessed by a higher court (the trial court). Thus, an appeal offers the parties a second chance to win their case.

Cassation

After the appeal, there is one more higher Dutch remedy. Against a judgment or order of the trial court, parties can appeal in cassation to the Supreme Court. In cassation, the Supreme Court will not review the substance of the case. The Supreme Court only assesses whether the trial court made the correct considerations in terms of applying the law, following the court proceedings and justifying the judgment. In addition, as with appeals, an attorney is required in cassation.

Corrigendum

In case there are obvious errors in the judgment or order, they may be rectified. Rectification means correcting certain errors without the need for an appeal. These include, for example, obvious slips and miscalculations. Rectification is also possible if the court has failed to rule on any part of the claim. It must be possible to rectify the error without it leading to a different ruling.

Revocation for fraud

If a judgment is based on fraud committed by a party to the proceedings, the judgment may be revoked. There may be fraud if a party has concealed certain facts, making the judgment more favorable to that party than if those facts had been known. The judgment is then revoked and the proceedings reopened. In this article you can read more about revocation for fraud in judicial proceedings.

Conclusion

There are a number of remedies that can be used if you disagree with the judge's ruling. The most common of these is the appeal. If you disagree with a court ruling, it is advisable to contact a lawyer. In fact, some legal remedies can only be instituted with the help of a lawyer. The trial lawyer at Lexys Lawyers can tell you more about your options if you disagree with a court decision.