Will the advanced court fee be refunded if the lawsuit is dropped in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Point c Clause 1 Article 217 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Vietnam, after accepting cases which fall within their respective jurisdiction, the Courts shall issue decisions to terminate the resolution of the civil lawsuits if the plaintiffs withdraw all petitions for initiation of lawsuits.

Accordingly, Clause 3 Article 218 of the Code of Civil Procedure prescribes as following:

In cases where the Court issues decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits because the plaintiffs withdraw all petitions for lawsuit initiation, the Court fee advance money paid by the involved parties shall be refunded to the payers.

At the same time, Clause 3 Article 18 of Resolution 326/2016/UBTVQH14 also states clearly that:

In cases where the Court issues decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits because the plaintiffs withdraw all petitions for lawsuit initiation, the Court fee advance money shall be refunded to the payers.

Therefore, according to the aforesaid regulations, plaintiffs shall be refunded the Court fee advance money in cases they withdraw all petitions for lawsuit initiation.

However, it should be noted that in cases where the Courts issue decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits because the plaintiffs are absent though have been duly summoned twice unless they apply for trials in their absence or a force majeure event or an objective obstacle occurs, the Court fee advance money paid by the involved parties shall be confiscated by the State for public fund (Clause 2 Article 218 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

Moreover, Resolution No. 326/2016/UBTVQH14 also has regulations of handling of collected Court fee advance in other cases:

In cases where the Court issues decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits because the defendants have made counter-claims, the persons with related rights and interests who have made independent claims but still absent though have been duly summoned twice then the collected Court fee advance shall be confiscated by the State for public fund

In cases where the Court issues decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits because the defendants have made counter-claims then withdraw the counter-claims, the persons with related rights and interests who have made independent claims withdraw the claims, then the collected Court fee advance shall be refunded to the payers.

In cases where the Court conducts the cassation or reopening procedures to abrogate first-instance civil judgments, opens appellate procedures for re-trial under first-instance procedure, after the first-instance Court re-accepts the case, if the Court issues decisions to terminate the resolution of the civil lawsuits because the involved parties withdraw their lawsuit petitions or requests, the collected Court fee advance shall be refunded to the payers.

Bao Ngoc

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