PARTICIPATION OF THIRD PARTIES WHO DO NOT DECLARE INDEPENDENT CLAIMS ON THE SUBJECT OF A DISPUTE, IN CIVIL PROCEEDINGS
Authors: Lemyk Roksolana 
Published: July 2023

The third parties who do not declare independent claims on the subject of a dispute are the subjects of civil procedural legal relations, who take part in a civil case in order to protect their interests. A third party who does not declare independent claims on the subject of a dispute is interested in the outcome of the consideration of the civil case between the parties, as the court's decision may affect its rights or obligations to one of the parties. The main characteristic feature that distinguishes third parties who do not declare independent claims from other participants of the case is the nature of their interest in the case. Their interest is not in the subject of dispute, but in the outcome of the case, as the decision in the case can be on their mutual relations with one of the parties. Therefore, such interest is procedural in content. The court may not impose on third parties who do not declare independent claims on the subject of a dispute any material and legal obligations, or establish or defend their rights, that is, make a decision or ruling on the rights or obligations of these third parties. The third party may enter the case on their own initiative, and also be involved in the case on the motion of the participants of the case or the initiative of the court. The content of the statement from a third party about its involvement in the case is not provided by law, but as it follows from the provisions of part 4 of Art. 53 the CPC of Ukraine, in such a statement it is necessary to specify on which grounds it is necessary to involve such a third person in the case. The plaintiff, who initiated the involvement of a third party in the case, after the court’s satisfaction of his petition, in fact, cannot refuse the participation of such person in the case. Analyzing the expediency of participation of third parties in the case, the court should take into account the following circumstances, the presence of which is the basis of involvement of third parties who do not declare independent claims: – the existence of material-legal relations between a third party and one of the parties (labor, contractual, family); – these material and legal relations arise (are predominant) from the procedural relations that have formed between the plaintiff and the defendant in the case for the subject of the dispute; – the probability of a dispute on the law of civil law between a third party and one of the parties arising from these relations. The third person, who does not declare independent claims on the subject of a dispute, belongs to the number of participants of the case, and therefore is assigned to the whole set of procedural rights and obligations of the given type of subjects of procedural legal relations, provided by the Article. 43 CPC of Ukraine. Since such persons have no property interests in their case, there are no claim management rights, respectively, which would influence the commencement or termination of proceedings. For example, such third parties may not bring before the court the question of transfer of the case under established jurisdiction, since the closure of the case may be brought before the court by the plaintiff by submitting the respective application and deciding on transfer of the case under established jurisdiction is decided by the court on application of the plaintiff in the case. In the process of evidence the third party acts independently in accordance with their own interests. Performance or non-performance of certain procedural actions is based on the principle of optionality and all depends on the third parties themselves.