Spanish Civil Litigation: Ordinary Proceedings and Hearings

Ordinary Proceeding in Spanish Civil Law

1. Filing the Complaint: The plaintiff must attach all documents intended to support the claim.

2. Preliminary Examination: The court checks if the complaint meets the requirements for a decree of admission. Later, it is sent to the defendant for notification.

3. Service of Process: The defendant is expected to answer the claim within 20 days via a statement of defense or may request a motion on jurisdiction (declinatoria), which suspends the plea until resolved.

Preliminary Hearing: Article 414 CPA and Following

The Court will first ask the parties if they wish to reach an agreement.

Examination of Procedural Issues

The dispute between the parties is divided into three steps:

• Additional allegations
• Stands on the documents
• Recreation of the list of the dispute

Formal Proposal of Evidence

This stage involves the admission or denial of evidence, including witnesses and party-appointed experts (who can be appointed by the party or the judge).

• The judge first grants the plaintiff the opportunity to enumerate the evidence.
• The judge then grants a term to the defendant to do the same.

Once parties have been heard and have enumerated their proposals, the judge decides orally which evidence must be admitted or denied.

Judge's Examination and Challenges

The final part of the proposal is the judge's examination, where the judge may need to personally inspect evidence or visit a location. After hearing the proposals, the judge admits or denies evidence based on the required criteria. A term is then granted to the parties to consider the decisions regarding the admission or rejection of evidence.

To challenge a judge's decision rejecting evidence, parties follow Article 285 CPA, known as a motion for consideration (recurso de reposición). If this occurs, the judge must grant a term to the opposing party to answer the motion.

Finally, the judge makes a decision to conclude the preliminary hearing and proceed to the main hearing (juicio).

Main Hearing: The Juicio Stage

Taking or Reception of Evidence

During the práctica de la prueba, parties present the evidence admitted during the preliminary hearing (e.g., witnesses give statements, experts explain reports). However, some evidence may be processed before the preliminary hearing, such as site photographs.

Recapitulation and Final Judgment

Recapitulation by the Parties: Parties review the factual and legal issues of the case, commenting on documents, recordings, witness statements, and expert reports to conclude with a final proposal.

Seen for Judgment: The judge declares the case ready for judgment and has a term of 20 days to resolve the case and issue a final decision. There may also be final proceedings or measures (diligencias finales) under Articles 434 and 435, providing a term to propose definitive evidence to clarify the case.