The Supreme Court in its Ruling of October 21, 2020, on case No. 726/938/18 (proceeding No. 61-14879sv19) provided clarification on the grounds and conditions for review of a case under newly discovered circumstances.
Considering the case the SC noted that in accordance with the first part of Article 423 of the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine (hereinafter - the CPC of Ukraine) decision or ruling of the court, which completed the consideration of the case and entered into force, can be reconsidered for newly discovered or exceptional circumstances.
Newly discovered circumstances are legal facts that are essential for the consideration of the case and existed at the time of the case, but were not and could not be known to the applicant, as well as circumstances that arose after the entry of the judicial decision into legal force and referred by law to the newly discovered circumstances.
In particular, the Supreme Court pointed out that when deciding the question about the re-examination of a judgment under newly discovered circumstances the court shall proceed from the reasons as defined by Part 2 Article 423 of the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine the list of which is exhaustive.
Therefore, in order to recognize circumstances as newly discovered, according to the court, the following conditions must be met:
- circumstances existed at the time of the case;
- circumstances could not have been known to the applicant at the time the case was considered;
- circumstances are part of the subject matter of the case;
- circumstances may affect the court's conclusions about the rights and obligations of the persons involved in the case.
