How to properly send a claim by mail?

The pre-trial procedure for resolving disputes in civil cases on the protection of consumer rights is necessary in order to allow the seller or performer to restore the violated right of the client. At the same time, the period for responding to consumer demands is much shorter than the period for which a lawsuit can drag on. However, the disadvantages of this way of resolving the dispute include the possibility of encountering the seller’s reluctance to accept the claim. Therefore, if you have chosen the option of self-protection from various methods of protecting consumer rights, then it is important to know how to properly file a claim.

Is it possible to do without pre-trial dispute resolution?

According to paragraph 23 of the resolution of the plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated June 28, 2012 No. 17 “On the consideration by courts of civil cases in disputes regarding the protection of consumer rights”, before filing a statement of claim in court, a mandatory claim procedure for settling disputes is provided for in the event of non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of obligations by the telecom operator , arising from the contract for the provision of communication services (clause 4 of Article 55 of the Federal Law of July 7, 2003 N 126-FZ “On Communications”), as well as in connection with the transportation of passengers, luggage, cargo or in connection with towing of a towed object by inland waterway transport (clause 1 of Article 161 of the Code of Inland Water Transport of the Russian Federation). According to paragraph 1 of Art. 16.1 of the Federal Law of April 25, 2002 No. 40-FZ “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners”, before filing a claim against the insurer containing a claim for insurance compensation, the victim is obliged to contact the insurer with a statement containing a claim for insurance compensation or direct compensation for losses. And in case of disagreement with the amount of the insurance payment made by the insurer, violation of the deadlines by the service station for the return of the repaired car and other violations on the part of the insurance company, the victim sends a claim to the insurer with documents attached to it and justifying the claim. Failure to comply with this rule is grounds for returning the statement of claim with reference to paragraph 1 of part 1 of Article 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

Accordingly, in most cases, in disputes regarding the protection of consumer rights, pre-trial procedure is not necessary. However, refusal to file a claim entails the impossibility of demanding a penalty for violating the deadlines provided for in Art. 20, 21 and 22 ZZPP, in the amount of one percent of the price of the goods for each day of delay. You also won’t have to count on the court imposing a fine on the seller in the amount of fifty percent of the amount awarded by the court in favor of the consumer for failure to voluntarily meet the consumer’s requirements.

How to prepare a pre-trial claim

A pre-trial claim is practically a statement of claim. The text of the claim must contain legal grounds, factual circumstances, and requirements.

A pre-trial claim is drawn up according to the following template:

the addressee of the claim is indicated - the counterparty to the transaction, the person who violated its obligations, in some cases - other persons (for example, when compensating for health damage caused to a minor, the addressee of the claim will be his parents);
personal data of the sender of the claim: full name, address, telephone, email;
name: pre-trial claim to emphasize the intention to go to court in case of refusal to satisfy the legal demands of a party to the transaction;
grounds for the emergence of an obligation between the parties: about an agreement, the commission of an action, causing harm, if necessary, file a claim for damages, etc.
references to the rules of law that govern the relations between the parties;
the claims of the complainant;
the period within which the complaint must be responded to;
filing a claim in court in case of refusal to satisfy the requirements of the claim.

If the obligation between the parties is of a monetary nature and in the future filing a claim for the recovery of a penalty, whether to include such a requirement or ask only for the return of the principal debt is the right of the person filing the claim.

How to file a claim in person

There is no uniform requirement for the procedure for transferring a claim. In serious stores, it is usually enough to come and state your desire to submit a claim, the consumer is directed to the right place where you can get a claim form (or a blank piece of paper) and a pen. If necessary, you can always cross out items you don’t like on the form. In small stores, you can usually transfer a complaint to any employee (director, administrator, salesperson). In this case, you must ask for a signature on the second copy with the employee’s details (full name and position), the date of transmission of the claim and signature. If a claim is refused, the fact of such refusal must be recorded in some way. The courts will accept a written waiver, drawn up and signed by two or three people. You can also provide the court with a video recording of the transmission of a written complaint; fortunately, almost all modern phones have video cameras. It should be borne in mind that courts are very reluctant to accept this kind of evidence, so it would be ideal to record the date and location of the video recording (for example, remove the facade of a building or an address sign and a wall calendar), and it is also best to capture the interior of the room and the person, employees, with whom communication takes place. Moreover, even in this case, you cannot be completely sure that the judge will not have questions regarding such a recording, so at least one witness is needed.

How to compose?

As already mentioned, the legislation does not approve a single standard model of such a document. Usually it is compiled in any form. However, when preparing it, certain rules must be observed, namely:

the text must be presented in writing;
the content must clearly express the essence of the claims and the proposal to resolve the dispute peacefully;
Insulting address to an opponent is unacceptable;
the text of the claim can be typed on a computer or written by hand.

Particular attention should be paid to the content of the pre-trial claim. It must include the following required sections:

The introductory part is a standard component of any letter, which contains information about the addressee and applicant (name, full name, address, telephone number, etc.).
Information block - describes the circumstances under which the problem arose and what the essence of the complaint against the addressee of this request is expressed.
Proposal to resolve the problem - the applicant must clearly express his desire to resolve the dispute peacefully and make a corresponding proposal to his opponent. It can also be mentioned that if this appeal is ignored, the person whose rights have been violated should file a claim in court.

At the end of the document, a signature and date of preparation are placed according to the standard scheme. It is prepared in 2 copies, one of which remains with the person making the claim, and the second is transferred to the violator.

We do not recommend completing the documents yourself. Save time - contact our lawyers by phone:

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Sending a claim by mail

The easiest and fastest way, which does not require the involvement of witnesses and costs quite modest money (sometimes less than the cost of traveling to the seller and back) is to send a claim by mail. It is enough to send a registered letter, and its status can be checked using the track number on the Russian Post website. Courts will most often accept a printout from a website as acceptable evidence of proper transmission of a letter, but if written evidence is needed, a claim with return receipt may be sent. In some cases, sellers may claim that they received blank sheets of paper, however, according to paragraph 1 of Art. 56 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the burden of proving the circumstances lies on the party that refers to these circumstances. That is, it is the defendant who must prove the fact that there are blank sheets of paper there, and judges often perceive such statements with skepticism. In order to avoid the possibility of a dispute about the fact of sending a claim, and not a New Year’s card, you can send a valuable letter with a description of the attachment (this service is provided, for example, by Russian Post).

Where to send?

It must be sent to the legal address of the organization, or the actual address of the individual entrepreneur, which is usually his place of residence. You can find out the actual address of the entrepreneur by making a request to the Unified State Register of Entrepreneurs, but you will have to pay a state fee and pay for the extract itself. The legal address of the organization is freely available (for example, you can find it by TIN on the tax service website). If the letter is returned to the sender, then the pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute will be considered complied with, since, according to clause 3 of Art. 54 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, a legal entity bears the risk of the consequences of failure to receive legally significant messages delivered to the address indicated in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, as well as the risk of the absence of its body or representative at the specified address. Messages delivered to the address specified in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities are considered received by the legal entity, even if it is not located at the specified address.

What is a pre-trial demand addressed to a debtor?

In the general understanding, a pre-trial claim means a letter sent to the opponent (future defendant), containing a proposal to peacefully resolve the current problem, that is, without resorting to litigation.

This term does not appear in this form in the conceptual apparatus of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Civil Code of the Russian Federation). However, the need to comply with pre-trial procedure is indicated in many articles of this legislative act (for example, paragraph 2 of Article 452, paragraph 3 of Article 619, etc.).

The main role of the pre-trial claim is as follows:

Resolve the current problem quickly and painlessly, since the legal process is a long and exhausting procedure.
The opportunity to avoid unnecessary expenses in the form of legal expenses, payment of state fees, hiring a paid lawyer, etc.
Extends the statute of limitations. In paragraph 3 of Art. 202 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that the calculation of the period during which a person can sue a violator is stopped for the period allotted by law for the procedure for the peaceful settlement of a dispute or for 6 months.

It should be borne in mind that if the pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute (in cases where it is mandatory) is not followed, the claim will be returned, and if it has already been accepted for proceedings, it will be left without consideration.

Is it considered a document?

The current legislation does not indicate that a pre-trial claim must be certified by a notary or drawn up in any special way. It follows from this that a simple letter can serve as such a document.

The main thing is to strictly follow the generally accepted rules for preparing such a document, developed on the basis of judicial practice. Moreover, it is imperative to ensure that in the event of a trial, the plaintiff has the opportunity to prove that the claim was actually sent and remained unanswered (more on this will be written below).

Submitting a claim by email

An absolutely free and immediate way to submit a claim is by sending an email. However, if the seller states that he did not receive the letter or that it was not his mail, it is not possible to prove the opposite in court. Therefore, at the moment this type of communication, although convenient for both parties to the process, rarely forms part of the evidence base of court decisions.

Thus, we can definitely say that the best way to file a claim is to send a letter by mail. The courts have great confidence in the data of this organization, and the presence of the notification coupon stub will be much more reliable evidence that the seller received the claim than the video recording and testimony of witnesses combined.

Review and response timeframes

The legislation does not specify a single period within which an opponent who has received a pre-trial claim must respond to it. The length of this period of time will vary for each type of dispute. Several examples can be considered:

if the dispute is related to the termination of the contract or a change in its terms, then the response to the claim must be received within the period specified in it or within 30 days (clause 2 of Article 452 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
on issues of appealing illegal decisions of tax authorities, the period for consideration and response to a claim is 1 month;
when trying to peacefully resolve a problem related to the illegal refusal to register a legal entity or individual entrepreneur - 15 days;
upon termination of the lease agreement - a reasonable period (paragraph 3 of Article 619 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

For all other types of disputes, specific deadlines within which the addressee must respond to a pre-trial claim are prescribed in the relevant legislation governing specific legal relations.

Protection of interests in court

The first question you may have is which court to go to? There are three options:

world;
district;
arbitration

It’s not difficult to choose the right one - they clearly delineated their powers among themselves. Arbitration courts resolve economic disputes between individual entrepreneurs and LLCs. If one of the parties is an individual, magistrates or district judges take over the case. The difference between them is the cost of the claim. Disputes costing up to 50,000 rubles are considered by magistrate courts, more expensive ones by district courts.

The next step is to determine the coordinates of the court. It depends on the defendant's address. Therefore, if you are in different cities, you will have to resolve the dispute on foreign territory.

Life hack for the prudent: if the counterparty is located on the other side of the country, you can determine jurisdiction by agreement - choose which court will hear the dispute.

Preparation of documents

Now comes the most serious stage - preparing the claim and documents. A statement of claim is similar to a claim: it needs to describe the controversial situation in detail, but without unnecessary “water,” name the requirements and support them with the norms of the law. You can find out details about the form and content of the statement of claim from the Civil Procedure Code and the Arbitration Procedure Code.

Pay special attention to the wording of the requirements; the outcome of the case largely depends on this. The judges will not “think things out” and will only consider what is stated in the claim.

Attach evidence to the statement of claim - any documents confirming your position: contracts, invoices, acts, invoices and others. To this list, add a mail receipt, a list of the attachments, and a notice of receipt of the claim.

Don't forget to pay the state fee. Without a receipt for payment, the case will not be processed. The amount of the fee depends on the value of the claim, and you can calculate it using the calculator on the court’s website.

Submission of documents

The package of documents, including the statement of claim, must be submitted to the court in at least two copies. The judge needs one, and the rest will be sent to the defendant. Accordingly, if there are two defendants, prepare three copies. Yes, printing documents can take a whole stack of paper.

You can send documents to the court by mail, bring them in person or through a representative by proxy. If you decide to send documents by mail, be prepared that the process will drag on for another couple of weeks. For a personal visit, prepare another copy of the statement of claim - it will be stamped at the court reception desk indicating receipt of the documents.

Special requirements of arbitration courts

It is more difficult to prepare for a visit to the arbitration court and you will have to collect a little more documents. In addition to those already mentioned, you will need:

extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities/Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs for you and the counterparty. The extract needs to be “fresh”, received no earlier than 30 days before filing the claim.
certificate of state registration of your individual entrepreneur or LLC.

In addition, you yourself send a package of documents to the defendant. Unlike other courts, the arbitration court will not deal with this. Therefore, before taking documents to court, send a similar package to the defendant in a valuable letter with an inventory and notification. You will add the receipt and inventory to the general list of documents for the court.

What's next?

So, the die is cast, the cards are dealt - documents are in court. The legal process, as you have heard, is a slow process. Therefore, you should again be patient, wait and go through the arguments in support of your rightness. The judge schedules the first meeting in about a month. During this time, he will send documents to the defendant, request additional information, and the defendant, if desired, will write a response to the claim.

In an ideal universe, the courts would decide the case within two months, but in practice it takes longer.

You can find out the date of the hearing from the summons that the courts send by mail. Sometimes mail is delayed, lost, and you risk missing a meeting. Therefore, it is better to find out the date and time yourself: call the office or look up the information on the court’s website.

On date X, as before the exam, repeat the circumstances of the case and your arguments, take the originals of the documents provided in copies and your passport. And may the force be with you :)

How to properly send a claim to a defaulter if he does not want to receive it?

Hello, we are delivering goods to a store that has stopped paying money.

We sent a claim to the defaulter at the store’s actual address and legal address. The letters were registered as valuable with a list of attachments and notification. Both returned. It turns out that the recipient simply receives a receipt for receiving the letter at the post office, but he simply does not go to receive it and it is returned.

If you send it by registered mail, it will be handed over against signature, but an inventory of such a letter is not drawn up, I will simply receive a notification that N has received some of my letters on such and such a date. Is such notice sufficient for further legal proceedings if the store never pays the debt? July 23, 2014, 19:02, question No. 510032 Dmitry,

Moscow

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