It happens that there is no paper version of the claim to the counterparty. Courts accept messages sent in messengers and other documents, but the courts are likely to have to prove the necessity of such a method of message delivery. Below we outline how we believe you can prove your position to the court.
Courts should primarily rely not on the appearance or form of the message, but on its content.
— Resolution of the First AAC of 27.01.2022 in case No. A43-17162/2021
However, we recommend in the claim to indicate the reason for such a choice of form and type, also indicate that the claim you have expressed and substantiated it. We recommend including a sentence with a negative or positive answer that the counterparty can give. It is also recommended to include: a specific definite claim, its justification and justification of calculations.
— Decision of the Moscow Region Court of Arbitration of 15.02.2024 in case No. A41-91308/2023
Take into account the specifics of the claim and recommend sending the information which will enable the counterparty to settle the dispute voluntarily.
— Decision of the Arbitration Court of Nizhny Novgorod Region of 06.10.2023 in case No. A43-19533/2023
In the case below, the Court stated that the plaintiff did not provide information on the extent to which the obligations were not fulfilled and did not substantiate the amount of losses with documentation. The claim was left without consideration.
— Determination of the Moscow Region Court of Arbitration of 23.08.2023 in case No. A41-48394/2023
If you use messenger, we recommend checking whether the contract allows such a possibility, if not — you will have to prove in court the usual practice of the parties to exchange information, as well as to prove the ownership of accounts.
— Clause 13 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court from 22.06.2021 № 18 «On some issues of pre-trial settlement of disputes considered in the order of civil and arbitration proceedings».
We recommend that you look at previous correspondence with the counterparty, where there are messages about him, so he will not be able to refer to the inconsistency of the account.
— Ruling of the First AAC of 20.12.2021 in case No. A43-22848/2021
In the case below, the parties have already had several proceedings reflected on kad.arbitr.ru. In these cases, the counterparty itself used the disputed e-mail address, so it was not able to refer to the discrepancy.
— Decision of the Arbitration Court of the Irkutsk Region of 29.01.2024 in case No. A19-25611/2023
In the following case, the party had difficulties, as the contract did not provide for the exchange of correspondence in electronic form (using e-mail), to prove the usual practice failed.
— Decree of the Seventh AAC of 10.02.2022 in case No. A03-12083/2021
Using messengers recommend sending PDF versions of documents, if you decide to send a claim in text, remember the above requirements and highlight for the court the context of the message.
It may also help to argue that the company entered into correspondence, asked questions and received clarifications, was involved in the discussion of the claim. Thus, in our opinion, the Respondent will not be able to refer to the failure to comply with the pre-trial procedure, the court is likely to consider such actions as a refusal of voluntary settlement in the pre-trial order.
— Resolution of the Central District Court of Arbitration of 22.09.2023 in case No. A48-9245/2022