Section 18: Court screening of pleadings

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 1088/2566 (2023)

   A court may dismiss a petition at the screening stage under Section 18, without first making an order accepting it, where examination shows it should not proceed.

   The Central Bankruptcy Court, on examining the petitioners' business rehabilitation petition, dismissed it. The Supreme Court held the court had power to dismiss the petition at the examination stage under Section 18, applied with the third paragraph of Section 172 and the Bankruptcy Court Act, without needing to accept the petition first.

2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 3116/2567 (2024)

   A pleading that does not comply with a statutory precondition to suit falls under the third paragraph of Section 18, and the party has no standing, since the pleading was not made in accordance with the conditions imposed by law.

   The plaintiff filed suit before completing the prescribed appeal step required by ministerial regulation. The court held the complaint had not proceeded in accordance with the conditions imposed by law, under the third paragraph of Section 18 together with Section 31 of the Labour Court Act, so the plaintiff had no standing to sue.

3. Supreme Court Judgment No. 3748/2565 (2022)

   Where a court has accepted a pleading and then revokes that acceptance for a short-paid court fee and requires a fresh pleading, the effect is an order not accepting and returning the pleading under Section 18.

   The trial court accepted the petitioner's motion, then revoked the acceptance because the court fee was short-paid, and ordered a fresh motion. The Supreme Court, in a consumer case, treated this as an order not accepting and returning the pleading under Section 18, relevant to whether the order was appealable under Section 18 with Section 228.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.