What the parties need to know when the statute of limitations expires in Vietnam?

Specifically, in Judgment 76/2018/DS-ST dated September 26, 2018 on a dispute requesting to declare a civil transaction invalid due to deception, according which: 

“In 2004, Mr. Nguyen Duong K and his wife Cao Thi My L transferred to Mrs. M a part of the land with an area of ​​465.50m2 located in Tan Chau town, Tan Chau district, Tay Ninh province. At the time when the parties carry out the procedures for transferring the above land, Ms. M hands over the entire land to Mr. K and Ms. L to carry out the transfer procedures. During the procedure, Ms. L signed herself on behalf of Mr. K, Mrs. M, and Mr. Mai Van N (pretending to be Mrs. M's husband, Mrs. M's real husband is Truong Van H). Ms. M was granted a certificate of land use right by the household on May 4, 2004. In 2017, Mrs. M needed to sell the above land, she learned that the land was allocated to the household and at the time of land purchase in 2004, Mr. Mai Van N was Mrs. M's husband, so he could not sell the above land.

Now, Ms. M requests the Court to settle the claim that the contract on transfer of land use rights between her and the husband and wife Mr. K and Ms. L made on April 8, 2004 is invalid due to deception."

According to the provisions of Article 136 of the 2005 Civil Code and Article 132 of the 2015 Civil Code of Vietnam, the statute of limitations for initiating a lawsuit requesting the Court to declare a civil transaction invalid due to deception is 2 years. The statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit has now expired.

 However, according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 184 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, the Court shall only apply the statute of limitations upon the request of a party or parties to apply the statute of limitations this request must be made before the first-instance court issues a judgment or decision to settle the case... During the settlement of the case, the involved parties do not request the Court to apply the statute of limitations, because The Court still conducted the trial and considered the petition of Ms. M.

Compare with specific legal provisions on this issue as follows:

According to Clause 2, Article 184 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 of Vietnam

“Article 184. The statute of limitations for lawsuits, the statute of limitations for requests for civil matter resolution

1. The statute of limitations for lawsuits, the statute of limitations for requests for civil matter resolution shall conform to provisions of the Civil Code.

2. The Courts shall apply the regulations on statute of limitations according to the requests for application of statute of limitations of one or multiple sides, provided that such requests are made before the first-instance Courts issue the judgments/decisions on such matters/cases.

Therefore, if the statute of limitations has expired but one party still files a lawsuit and the other party does not request the Court to apply the statute of limitations within the statutory time limit, which is before the first-instance court issues a judgment or decision to settle the case, The Court will still handle the case normally. And if at the first instance level the issue of statute of limitations has not been set, then at the appellate level, the cassation will not be raised. Conversely, if one or more of the involved parties in the case request the application of the statute of limitations, if the statute of limitations has expired, the Court will suspend the settlement of the case according to the provisions of Article 217 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015.

“ Article 217. Suspension of settlement of civil cases

1. After accepting a case within its competence, the court shall issue a decision to terminate the settlement of a civil case in the following cases:

e) The involved parties request the application of the statute of limitations before the first-instance court issues a judgment or decision to settle the case and the statute of limitations for initiating a lawsuit has expired .”

It is thought that in order to protect their interests, the disputing parties need to pay attention to the statute of limitations for initiating a lawsuit as well as the right to request the application of the statute of limitations to initiate a lawsuit so that they can make the best decisions to avoid the case. It wasn't until the court finished hearing that the statute of limitations had expired.

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