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NEWSLETTER 2011
288
Partial and Collective Legal Actions in the New
Turkish Civil Procedure Code
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Att. Alper Uzun
Partial Action
Partial action is a legal concept which is widely practiced under
Turkish Civil Procedure Code (“TCPC”) which will be abolished on
October 1, 2011 by the entry in force of the New Turkish Civil Procedure
Code numbered 6100 (“New TCPC”). By filing a partial action, a certain
part of the plaintiff’s claims will be subject matter of the action, on the
other hand, the plaintiff reserves his right to modify the legal action by
expanding the claim further concerning a certain part of his claim, and
exercises these rights in the future. The plaintiff may claim his additional
rights that he reserved in the litigation process, without the need to file a
new lawsuit, by means of “amendment”.
The rationale behind filing a partial action was the intention to keep
litigation costs minimized. By filing a partial lawsuit, the plaintiff prefers
not to bear the full costs of litigation in advance and have the opportunity
to defer a percentage of the fees and costs that equates with the remaining
part of the claim. Therefore, the plaintiff can avoid paying high amount
of litigation cost when filing a lawsuit, and the remaining part of claim
can be claimed at a later stage when the plaintiff has a certain degree of
inclination about the outcome of the case, by means of partial action, then
legal charges are complemented.
The New TCPC, which shall enter into force on October 1, 2011,
brings new dispositions, which will completely modify application of
partial action in practice.
New Dispositions Concerning Partial Action
Article 109 of the New TCPC regulates the partial action as follows:
(1) In the event that the claim may be divided in respect of its nature,
a certain part of the claim may be subject matter of a lawsuit.
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Article of September 2011