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Before Commencing a Civil Proceeding

There are certain things that you must do before you start any kind of civil court action. This applies to every party, whether you are a plaintiff, defendant, third party etc.

Legal Obligations

A person who is a party to a civil proceeding must first read the overarching obligations. These obligations will apply to you at all times during a civil case.

These obligations are set out in the Civil Procedure Act 2010.

Overarching Obligations

• Paramount Duty – you have a paramount duty to the court to further the administration of justice
• Obligation to act honestly – you must act honestly at all times in relation to your case
• Requirement of proper basis – you must not make a claim or response to a claim that is vexatious, frivolous, an abuse of process or does not have a proper basis
• Obligation to take steps to resolve the dispute – you must only take steps that will ,resolve your dispute or case. You must not cause undue delay.
• Obligation to cooperate – you must cooperate with the other parties.
• Obligation not to mislead or deceive – you must not engage is conduct which is misleading or deceptive, or is likely to be misleading or deceptive.
• Obligation to use reasonable endeavours to resolve the dispute – you must try to resolve your dispute with the other parties. You may use appropriate dispute resolution processes.
• Obligation to narrow the issues in dispute – if you are unable to resolve your dispute completely with the other party, you must try and resolve as many issues as you can, to narrow the issues that are in dispute.
• Obligation to ensure costs are reasonable and proportionate – you must ensure that any legal costs incurred during the case are reasonable and proportionate to the case, having regard to the complexity of the case and the amount in dispute
• Obligation to minimise delay – you must ensure that you act promptly and minimise delay at all times during your case.
• Obligation to disclose the existence of documents – you must disclose the existence of any documents that you have which are critical to the resolution of the dispute. Once you are aware you have a critical document, you must disclose its existence to the other party at the earliest opportunity. (Note: if you are given documents, you may only use them in connection with your case).

Before you complete your first document in a case, you must read your obligations. If you do not understand these obligations, you should seek legal advice.

If you do not act in accordance with your obligations during your case, there may be penalties, such as extra costs or having your claim or defence struck out.

Once you have read and understood your obligations, you must complete a Form 4A Overarching Obligations Certification and file it with the court. You file this form along with your first document in the case, for example, your complaint or your defence.

Proper Basis

One of your obligations when you are involved in a civil case, is to only raise points in your case which have a proper basis.

You must complete a Form 4B Proper Basis Certification, which certifies that each of your allegations or denials in your complaint or defence, has a proper basis. You file this form along with your first document in the case, for example, your complaint or your defence.

If you have a legal practitioner, they will complete this certification on your behalf.

If you require assistance to work out whether your allegations or denials have a proper basis, you should seek legal advice.