On August 31st 2017, the Center for Legal Research and Analysis promoted the analysis “Economic Value on Civil Petty Cases” at the Marriott Hotel in Skopje.
The preparation of the analysis is part of the programme “Improving the Quality of Justice in Macedonia through Capacity Building for Judges and Monitoring Judicial Reforms” funded by the British Embassy Skopje.
The Head of the Programme Zarko Hadzi-Zafirov in his introductory address emphasized that the main objective of the analysis is to offer an assessment of two types of costs related to low value disputes – the costs borne by the state and the costs borne by the party. The analysis covers and summarizes the data collected from the first instance Courts, the Judicial Council of the Republic of Macedonia and data obtained from the interviews conducted with judges who adjudicate civil petty cases. The data relates to civil petty litigation cases that have been processed in the courts in 2015 and 2016.
Lawyers, researchers, barristers and one international expert on economy, statistics and data processing, Mr. Adis Hodzic were involved in the process of preparation of the analysis.
During the presentation of the analysis, Mr. Hodzic emphasized that the data processed and the statistics gathered provides an answer to the key question on how much the litigation of such cases and the access to justice cost the society. The analysis showed the number of hearings which are necessary for a civil petty dispute in Skopje, how many are necessary in other towns, and how much the resolution of a dispute cost, depending in front of which first instance court it is being conducted.
When analyzing all the data, in addition to court fees, the researchers also took into account the lawyers expenses.
The conclusions of the analysis show that for disputes whose value is less than 3,600 denars it is not cost-effective to initiate court proceedings. The civil petty disputes are usually solved in two or more hearings in the first instance courts in Gostivar and Shtip, while in Skopje three or more hearings are needed. Consequently, litigating a low-value dispute in front of the first instance courts in Gostivar or the Shtip costs 15 percent of the average net salary in Macedonia, while in Skopje it costs 55 percent.
