On November 1, 2021, the Supreme Court, as part of the panel of judges of the First Judicial Chamber of the Civil Court of Cassation in case No. 331/247/21 , dismissed the cassation appeal of the plaintiff, indicating that the issue of the distribution of legal costs incurred during the consideration of the administrative claim should be resolved in the procedural order established by the law by the administrative court, which made a decision in this case.
The person appealed to the court with a claim to the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in Zaporizhzhia Region for compensation for damage, citing the fact that the defendant filed a lawsuit in the administrative court in the case of recognition as illegal and annulment of the decision and obligation to perform certain actions, in which he acted as a third party . The claim was refused.
The plaintiff insisted that the defendant's illegal actions caused him material damage, which consists of: expenses related to the execution of procedural actions and preparation for the consideration of the case; expenses of the parties and their representatives, related to the arrival at the court, which on the basis of Art. Art. 1166, 1173–1175 of the Civil Code of Ukraine are subject to compensation.
By the decision of the district court, which was left unchanged by the appellate court, the opening of proceedings was refused on the basis of Clause 1, Part 1, Art. 186 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine and clarified the plaintiff's right to apply to the court that considered the administrative case regarding the possibility of reimbursement of court costs in accordance with the procedure provided for by the articles of the Civil Code of Ukraine.
The courts proceeded from the fact that the plaintiff is not actually asking for damages, but to recover the court costs incurred by him during the review of the administrative claim, which is confirmed by the calculations made by the plaintiff attached to the statement of claim. The legislation does not provide for the possibility of recovery of court costs in an administrative case in civil proceedings, as well as there are no legal grounds for equating these costs with harm (damages) in the understanding of the provisions of the current legislation of Ukraine.
Having considered the plaintiff's cassation appeal, the Supreme Court agreed that in this case the plaintiff is actually asking not to compensate for the damage provided for by the requirements of Art. 1166, 1173–1175 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, and to collect court costs incurred by him during the consideration of the administrative claim.
According to the content of Art. 1174 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, Part 3 of Art. 132, Part 1 of Art. 139, Art. 143, item 3, part 1, art. 252 of the Civil Code of Ukraine by its legal nature, court costs can be reimbursed exclusively in the manner provided by procedural legislation, and only in the process in which the case was considered.
Thus, court costs in an administrative case, in particular, related to the execution of other procedural actions or preparation for the consideration of the case, the costs of the parties and their representatives, related to the arrival at the court, separation from normal activities are procedural costs that are charged in the order , determined by the CAS of Ukraine.
Taking into account the above, the Supreme Court agreed with the conclusions of the courts of the first and appellate instances that the costs of the parties specified by the plaintiff are not damage or losses in the sense of the requirements of Art. 22, 1166, 1173–1175 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, are not included in the price of the claim and cannot be charged as material damages or damages, since they are legal expenses related to the consideration of an administrative case in court and arise from procedural, not material – legal relations.