projects

Late response to appeal in reform proceedings

BGE 86 II 286Federal Supreme Court Official Reports (BGE) / Band IIJun 8, 1960Other

Open source

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

In a civil reform appeal, the Federal Tribunal held that the respondent's reply was filed too late. The deadline was not met because the brief was sent to the cantonal court within time but reached the Federal Tribunal only the next day. The reply was therefore disregarded. The court further stated that, if the appeal is dismissed, the respondent cannot claim costs for the federal proceedings because there was no valid intervention.

Omnilex headnote

Art. 61 al. 1 OJ; Art. 32 al. 3 OJ: the response to a reform appeal must reach the Federal Tribunal, or be handed to a Swiss post office addressed to it, within the statutory time limit. Timely dispatch to another authority does not preserve the deadline. A reply submitted after expiry is inadmissible and must be ignored. A party whose untimely filing is disregarded has no entitlement to federal costs for a valid participation not having occurred.

Full text

Urteilskopf

86 II 286

  1. Extrait de l'arrêt de la Ire Cour civile du 12 septembre 1960 dans la cause Vouilloz contre Crittin.

Erwägungen

ab Seite 286

La réponse au recours en réforme doit être adressée au Tribunal fédéral dans le délai légal de vingt jours (art. 61 al. 1 OJ). Le délai est observé lorsque, le dernier jour au plus tard, la réponse parvient au Tribunal fédéral ou est remise à son adresse à un bureau de poste suisse (art. 32 al. 3 OJ). En revanche, il ne suffit pas qu'elle soit adressée à une autre autorité dans le délai fixé (cf. RO 74 II 46). Quand la réponse n'est pas produite à temps, on n'en peut tenir compte (BIRCHMEIER, Bundesrechtspflege, ad art. 32, rem. 6 i. f.).

En l'espèce, le délai imparti à l'intimé pour fournir sa réponse expirait le 8 juin 1960. Or c'est le lendemain seulement que le Tribunal cantonal, à qui elle avait été envoyée par erreur, l'a mise à la poste à l'adresse du Tribunal fédéral. Cette réponse est donc tardive et ne peut être prise en considération. De plus, l'intimé n'étant pas intervenu valablement, il n'aura pas droit à des dépens pour la procédure fédérale si le recours est rejeté.

Keywords

time limitappeal responseadmissibilitypostal filingcosts

Extracted by Omnilex

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Key legal question

Whether the respondent's reply to the reform appeal was filed in time when it was sent within the deadline to the wrong authority and forwarded only after expiry.

Extracted holding

The reply is untimely because, for compliance with the deadline, it had to reach the Federal Tribunal or be handed in to a Swiss post office addressed to it by the last day at the latest.

Extracted reasoning

Sending the response to another authority within the deadline does not preserve time limits; since the cantonal court posted it to the Federal Tribunal only the next day, the filing cannot be taken into account.

Key legal question

Whether the respondent is entitled to costs in federal proceedings if the untimely reply is disregarded and the appeal is dismissed.

Extracted holding

No costs are awarded to the respondent if the appeal is rejected, because the respondent did not validly participate in the federal proceedings.

Extracted reasoning

Only a valid intervention in the federal proceedings can justify an award of costs; a late reply cannot have that effect.

Continue your research in ChatGPT or Claude

Connect Omnilex to search the legal corpus from your AI assistant.