Opinions on cassation and cassation proceedings

If you have received an unfavourable final judgment from a court deciding on questions of fact – usually a Court of Appeal – we can provide you with an opinion on cassation and assist you in the actual proceedings. Our cassation lawyers are usually engaged by the lawyer who handled the case on appeal. However, litigants sometimes contact us directly.

Given the time limit that applies to appealing a decision in cassation (usually three months in proceedings on the merits, eight weeks in interim relief proceedings and generally eight days in insolvency cases), you should lose no time in contacting one of our cassation lawyers about your case. In fact, the grounds for cassation should already have been elaborated in the originating procedural document.

Before an appeal in cassation can be filed, an opinion on cassation has to have been issued regarding the available options and chances of success in cassation proceedings. Not every case is suited to being appealed in cassation. In an opinion on cassation, our cassation lawyers explain whether there are any starting points for obtaining a ruling in your favour in cassation proceedings. An opinion on cassation may also relate to putting forward a defence in cassation, including the options for a cross-appeal in cassation (or a conditional one).

You can file an appeal in cassation if the opinion on it is favourable. The Supreme Court’s review in cassation is limited to whether the lower courts applied the law correctly and whether its decision was sufficiently reasoned. In principle, an appeal in cassation does not deal with the actual facts of the matter.

Assistance in preliminary ruling proceedings before the Supreme Court

Our cassation lawyers can also assist you with preliminary ruling proceedings before the Supreme Court. They then keep close track of the civil proceedings being conducted before the lower court and give advice on them. They can do so either beforehand (regarding the necessity and wording of any questions to be referred for a preliminary ruling) and/or afterwards (regarding the response to the Supreme Court decision and the way forward). The lawyer handling the case before the lower court or the Court of Appeal usually contacts our cassation lawyers in this regard. However, as a client you yourself can also contact one of the specialists listed below to discuss the options available to you.