Civil lawsuit is a legal dispute between two or more parties that involve private rights and remedies. It deals with non- criminal matters, contracts, property disputes, personal injury, or family law issues. Filing civil lawsuit is primary step in seeking for remedies or compensation. Civil Procedural law (hukum acara perdata), Indonesian Civil Code (“ICC”) and Herzien Inlandsch Reglement (“HIR”), set provision that must be followed in order a civil lawsuit legally enforceable and acceptable by the court. Failure to comply with either of the requirements can result in the lawsuit being rejected.
The following are the requirements:
1. Material Requirement
The material requirements for a civil lawsuit generally include a few key elements, parties involved the plaintiff and the defendant, a set of facts of the case, describing what happened and how it led to the dispute, legal grounds or the basis for the claim, which means explaining the laws or regulations that have been violated and included the specific demands or remedies the plaintiff is seeking, whether it’s compensation, specific performance, or another form of relief.
According to Article 8 paragraph (3) of the Indonesian Civil Procedural Law (Reglement op de Burgerlijke Rechtsvordering – Rv), the material requirement of the civil lawsuit shall contain:
- Identification of parties
The lawsuit must provide detailed information about the parties involved in the dispute, including full name, place and date of birth, occupation, religion, and domicile. If the party is a company, to state the company’s name and registered address. If multiple defendants are involved, each must be clearly identified, for instance: defendant I, defendant II, defendant III, etc.
2. The Legal Grounds of the Claim (Fundamentum Petendi or Posita). The legal ground of the claim, often called the “cause of action,” is essentially the foundation or the basis for a lawsuit. It explains the legal reasons why the plaintiff believes they’re entitled to a remedy. This could be based on a breach of contract, negligence, violation of rights, or other legal principles. In short, it’s what connects the facts of the case to the law, showing how the defendant’s actions led to damage/loss that warrants a court’s intervention. The posita present the existence of a legal relationship between the parties and the specific facts that gave rise to the dispute. These allegations should be framed in a clear and concrete manner, supported by relevant documents, witness statements, or other preliminary evidence.
The posita consists of two essential parts:
a. Factual Grounds (Feitelijke Gronden)
refer to the chronology and substantive facts of the case that describes the individual involved, events, actions, or omissions that led to the dispute and defining the context in which the legal relationship between the parties was formed and its subsequent alleged breach.
b. Legal Grounds (Rechtsgronden):
This part explain the basis or the reason for bringing a lawsuit. It’s a set of laws, statutes, legal principles or jurisprudence that justify the plaintiff’s claim. For example, in a contract dispute, the legal grounds might involve breach of contract, and in a personal injury case, it might involve negligence. Essentially, it’s the foundation upon which the legal claims are made.
3. Petitum or Claims
Petitum or Claim refer to a formal written request to the court to be granted. The petitum is directly addressed the court ruling (amar putusan). It outlines what the Plaintiff wants the court to do, primary claim (tuntutan pokok or tuntutan primer), plaintiff may also include accessory (accessoir) and substitute (subsidair) claims.
2. FORMAL REQUIREMENT OF THE LAWSUIT
The formal requirements of a lawsuit refer to the procedural conditions that must be compliance with the rules of court procedure as stipulated by applicable laws and regulations. In a civil lawsuit, there are several formal requirements to ensure that the case is properly filed . Failure to meet these formal requirements may result in the lawsuit being declared inadmissible (niet ontvankelijk verklaard) or the court being deemed to lack jurisdiction to examine and adjudicate the case.
Generally, the requirements include:
- Jurisdiction: The court must have the authority to hear, to examine the case over the subject matter and the parties involved. Under the Indonesian civil procedural law, the submission of a civil lawsuit must follow the court’s jurisdiction, whether with respect to absolute competence or relative competence.
Absolute competence refers to a court’s authority based on the type of case. For example, a dispute concerning breach of contract must be filed with the District Court and not with the Religious Court.
Relative competence refers to a court’s authority based on the territorial jurisdiction, meaning the lawsuit is generally filed at the court where the defendant is domiciled. In cases involving multiple defendants, the plaintiff may choose the court jurisdiction of any one of the defendants. However, in addition to domicile, relative competence may also be determined by an agreement between the parties that has specified in their contract chose which District Court shall serve as the legal forum in the event of a dispute. Such agreements may contain a jurisdiction clause . - Parties involved in a lawsuit
Plaintiff must draft the lawsuit with due care in determining the proper defendant(s), to ensure not arbitrarily included in the claim. Failure in identifying the proper parties may result in a submission of objection by the court (Eksepsi error in persona). Furthermore, a party that lack of legal standing (legally incompetent) to file the claim, may lead to a disqualification in person (persona standi in judicio). In addition, Indonesian law requires all direct or indirect related parties to be addressed in the lawsuit. Failure to do so may leads to the annulment of the lawsuit by the panel of judges by the submissions of objection due to the lack of parties (plurium litis consortium) by the defendant.
3. Legal Standing, Clarity of the Lawsuit The plaintiff must have a sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action being challenged. The lawsuit must be clearly and explicitly stated. If the claims are not clear , vague or ambiguous (obscuur libel), the court may declare the lawsuit inadmissible.
4. Compliance to the Principle of Ne Bis In Idem.
Plaintiff must awere that a case/lawsuit that has already been decided with a legally binding (inkracht) judgment, either by granting or rejecting the claim can not be filed more than once if it’s involve the same parties, the same object, and the same cause of action.
3. STAGES CIVIL LAWSUIT PROCEEDING THROUGH DISTRICT COURT PROCEDURES
Prior filing lawsuit defendant must first declared in default to avoid dismissal for being premature (premature exception or also known as premature motion to dismiss). As regulated in the ICC, the plaintiff must issue warning letter to demonstrate that the plaintiff has acted in good faith in attempting to resolve the dispute out of court. Warning letter may be given 2 or 3 times.
If the Defendant failed to give respond or give unsatisfied respond then plaintiff may inisiate lawsuit to District Court. Once the case is registered, the District Court will summon the parties through a court bailiff (jurusita) to attend the court proceeding, The summons is in the form of a written court summons (relaas panggilan sidang).
- Mediation Proceeding
On the first the hearing, the court will order the parties to undergo mediation. Mediation is a mandatory process as regulated at the Civil Procedural Law. The mediation proceeding must be conducted within 30 (thirty) days from the date of the issuance of the mediation order and may be extended for a maximum of an additional 30 (thirty) days from the expiry of the initial period. The case will move forward if no resolution met at the mediation.
Following mediation, the parties will engage in the exchange of arguments, which include a response to lawsuit (jawaban), reply (replik), and rejoinder (duplik) and in the event there is a counterclaim (gugatan rekonvensi) is filled, it will be followed by the response to the counterclaim (jawaban rekonvensi), counter-reply (replik rekonvensi), and counter-rejoinder (duplik rekonvensi) . This process may be conducted though online or onside
- Evidence Submission –
Once arguments exchanges is completed, the parties are required to submitted the supporting evidence (both in original and copy) to the panel of Judjes for assesment .
3. Witness and Expert Examination – At this stage, the court proceeds with examining witnesses and experts if needed. Court, generally requires a minimum of two witnesses from each party. Qualified witness are only those who directly saw, heard, or experienced the events in question, or expert, who has experience and academic competency their field can assist in uncovering facts and establishing the truth of the matter.
4. Conclusion
At this stage, parties summarize and reiterate their key points from the previous stages, including the exchange of arguments, the evidence submitted, and the witness testimonies. This stage is the final submission before the court renders its decision.
5. Court Decision (Putusan) –
This is the final stage where the court delivers its decision, after considering the entirety proceedings, arguments from both parties, evidences, witness examinations, and the judges’ legal considerations. The final ruling on the plaintiff claim may be granted in full, granted in part, dismissed entirely or Inadmissible (niet ontvankelijk verklaard).