Hungary
Answer ... The court will reject submissions which are not compliant with the procedural requirements and may impose a fine on the responsible party. The court will decide on the litigants’ motions for the presentation of evidence and the court is the first to question witnesses and experts. The court may exclude the public from the hearing. The court will close the litigation by issuing a decision on the merits of the case, but is also entitled to stay, suspend or terminate the proceeding. The court may extend deadlines only in certain limited cases defined and to the extent set forth by law. The court may decide to join cases only upon request.
Hungary
Answer ... As a main rule, court hearings are public (Article XXVIII(1) of the Constitution). In cases specified by law (Section 231(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure), the court may – ex officio or upon request – exclude the public from the entire hearing or part thereof (eg, to protect business secrets). Currently, the publicity of hearings may be limited, on account of the COVID-19 pandemic (Section 138(2) of Act LVIII of 2020).
Hungary
Answer ... The court determines the applicable law on the basis of the submitted documents and the pleadings of the litigants. If the facts are subject to the rules on private international law, Hungarian judges will apply EU law (the Rome I Regulation (593/2008) and the Rome II Regulation (864/2007)) or Act XXVIII of 2017 on private international law, depending on whether the litigants are EU residents. The court will determine the substance of the applicable law ex officio. In the course thereof, the court will consider:
- the parties’ statements;
- expert opinions submitted by or obtained at the motion of the parties; and
- information provided in response to a request from the minister for justice.
Hungary
Answer ... Third parties may voluntarily intervene in the action (Section 41(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure), and may also be impleaded by a litigant (Section 41(1)); and the plaintiff may also involve further defendants in the action (Section 53). If a party (eg, an insurer) has a legal interest in the outcome of a lawsuit in progress between other persons, it may intervene in the action on behalf of (but not as) the party with the same interest (Section 44(5)). If a party is seeking to enforce a claim against a third party due to failure in the action (eg, a general contractor against a subcontractor) or anticipates a claim by a third party, it may implead such third party.
Hungary
Answer ... Civil procedures at first instance consist of:
- a preparatory or first phase, which establishes the scope of the legal dispute, the applicable provisions of the law, the facts to be evidenced and so on); and
- a trial phase, which involves the taking of evidence, the evaluation of evidence and proof of facts.
In the statement of claim and the statement of defence, as well as during the first phase, the parties must present all claims, facts and rights, because they have very limited opportunities later on to add to or change any of their initial pleadings. The parties must also specify the applicable law, so the principle of ‘iura novit curia’ does not fully prevail. The first phase takes place in writing; while the first hearing and the second phase are conducted verbally. The litigants present the facts, their legal arguments, their motion to present evidence and the claim for action in the first phase. The second phase consists of the evidentiary hearing of the facts demonstrated as substantial during the first phase. Save for rare exceptions, the court is bound to the parties’ petitions. No evidence may be presented at second instance or in a judicial review procedure.
Hungary
Answer ... The general duration of lawsuits depends on the complexity of the case (eg, whether expert evidence is involved; the number of witnesses heard) and the cooperation of the parties. In our experience, simple cases take a year on average from the first hearing until the first instance decision, and altogether about one and a half to two years for the lawsuit to be closed with a final and binding ruling. According to statistics, the average duration of more complex cases (eg, medical compensation claims, actions against insurers) is three and a half years. A review procedure takes another nine to 12 months on average.