昆士兰州诉讼指南 • Legal One Lawyers

诉状是什么？它为何如此关键？

诉状是什么？它为何如此关键？诉讼过程一般需要多久？我应该提供哪些文件给律师？我们是否需要专家证据？这些证据包括什么？

What are “pleadings” and why do they matter? How long does litigation take? What documents should I give my lawyers? Do we need expert evidence, and what does that involve?

这些是大家诉讼中都会遇到的问题，因此我们整理了一个一站式的解答来帮助大家。我们将通过昆士兰州的一个一般性诉讼为例，来介绍一般流程以及一些可能有助于您理解的术语。

These are the kinds of questions we answer every day so we thought we’d put together a one-stop-shop of answers to help. We’re going to run through a “normal”* piece of litigation in Queensland, what the usual steps are and some terminology that might help you to understand along the way.

如果你正在考虑提起诉讼或面临诉讼，可以在下文中了解你可以采取的措施。

So if you’re contemplating litigation or about to be faced with it, read on to see what you’re up for.

注意：诉讼是一个涉及广泛的领域，这里仅提供一般性指南。在根据我们的建议采取行动之前，请务必与我们联系，因为每条规则都有可能存在多个例外。

Note – litigation is a vast area and this is a general guide only. Get in touch before acting on anything we say here, because for every rule there are a bunch of exceptions.

开始进行诉讼

GETTING STARTED IN LITIGATION

在昆士兰州，诉讼是在一种被称为“对抗性”的系统框架下进行的。

Litigation in Queensland takes place inside what’s called an “adversarial” system.

这意味着诉讼双方都有各自的立场，可能还会涉及其他相关方，以便进行全面的评估和衡量。

That means there’s our side, and their side (and possibly a few other sides thrown in for good measure).

启动诉讼的人通常被称为原告，而接受诉讼的人则通常被称为被告。

The person who starts the proceeding is usually called the plaintiff, and the person on the receiving end is usually called the defendant.

诉讼程序大部分是双方将各自的案件提交给对方，通常通过正式的法院文件、书面沟通、电话交流或法院的介入来进行。

Most of the litigation process is each party putting their case to the other. That might be through formal court documents, correspondence, telephone calls or Court intervention.

通过这个过程，应该明确核心问题。这样，在正式谈判或审判时，所有人都能清楚地了解事情的真相。

Through this process, the main issues should be identified. This is so by the time you get formal negotiations or trial, everyone has a good idea what’s going on.

昆士兰州诉讼的基本流程是:

A basic flow of litigation in Queensland is:

诉讼程序正式启动； A proceeding begins;
当事方交换“诉状”——这些文件明确各方的立场及其依据的基本事实和理由；The parties exchange “pleadings” – the documents which set out their positions and the basic factual reasons for those positions;
双方交换相关文件——在昆士兰州这一过程称为“披露”；The parties exchange relevant documents – called “disclosure” in Queensland;
如果需要专家证据，双方将安排制作并交换专家报告；If expert evidence is needed, then the parties arrange for expert reports to be produced and exchanged;
双方已通过谈判尝试解决争议 Attempts at negotiation to settle the matter are made;
进入审判阶段；Trial;
诉讼费用。Costs.

当然，这些程序各有不同，但这是许多法院程序的常见情况。我们来逐一分析。

There are variations on these of course, but that’s a good picture of many Court proceedings. Let’s work through each in turn.

诉状

THE PLEADINGS

诉状是用来明确当事人之间争议事项的文件。它帮助当事人和法院了解双方达成了哪些共识，哪些是存在分歧的地方。我们之间的分歧即被称为“争议问题”。

The pleadings are documents that determine the “issues” between the parties. They help both the parties and the Court to understand what we agree about, and what we don’t. Things we disagree about are said to be “in issue”.

索赔和索赔说明

THE CLAIM AND STATEMENT OF CLAIM

虽然有其他方式可以实现这一点，但启动法院诉讼最常见的方法是由原告提交一份“索赔陈述及索赔书”。

While there are other ways to do it, the most common way to start a Court action is the plaintiff filing a “Claim and Statement of Claim”.

索赔书是一份简洁的文件，列出了你所要求的内容。

The Claim is a short document that sets out what you want.

索赔陈述是一份较为详细的文件，列出了所有必要的事实，以说明为何法院应该支持你的诉求。

The Statement of Claim is a longer document that sets out the facts necessary to establish why the Court should give you what you want.

所以，举个例子，如果你想向某人索赔金钱：

So, for example, if you were suing someone for money:

1.你的索赔可能表述为：“原告请求赔偿15万美元，作为被告欠原告的债务、费用和利息。”

Your Claim might say “The Plaintiff claims $150,000 as a debt owed by the Defendant to the Plaintiff, costs and interest”

2.你的索赔声明可能会包含以下内容：Your Statement of Claim might say:

当事人是谁 Who the parties are;
协议的内容是什么？它是如何达成的； What the agreement was and how it arose;
你已经履行了自己在协议中的义务； That you performed your side of the agreement;
协议中明确规定他们应该按时支付你款项；That the agreement says they should have paid you now; and
尽管如此，被告至今未支付你应得的款项。That, despite this, the Defendant hasn’t paid you.

当然，实际的法庭文件会比这更加详细和正式。

As you might expect, the actual documents are going to be longer and more formal than this.

完成后，您需向法院支付申请费，文件将正式签发并加盖法院公章。

Once done, you pay the Court a filing fee and the documents get formally issued with a Court seal.

接下来，您需要将文件送达被告。若被告为个人，通常由专业送达人亲自送达；若被告为公司，通常会邮寄至其注册地址（作为您的律师，我们会为您安排这一步）。

You then have to serve them on the Defendant. If it’s a person, you would typically have an agent serve them in person. If it’s a company, you would generally post it to their registered office (we arrange this for you as your lawyers).

辩护意向通知书

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DEFEND AND DEFENCE

收到索赔和索赔声明后，被告需要在28天内提交“应诉和辩护意向通知”。如果未按时提交，原告可能会直接获得对被告的判决。因此，尽量避免拖延，及时应对为好。

You have 28 days after being served with a Claim and Statement of Claim to file a “Notice of Intention to Defend, and Defence”. If you don’t, the plaintiff might be able to just get a judgment against you – so it’s best not to waste time.

辩护意向通知书是一份具有预见性的文件，上面写着“我们打算为此诉讼进行辩护”，并列出了你今后的通信地址。通常，这个地址是被告律师的地址。

A Notice of Intention to Defend is a document that says, predictably, “we intend to defend this proceeding” and sets out your address for future correspondence. Usually, this is your lawyer’s address.

被告的辩护陈述将对索赔陈述作出回应。有三种回应方式：

Your Defence responds to the Statement of Claim. You have three options to respond to something:

同意(承认) Agree (admissions);
不同意(否认)，如果否认，必须解释原因。Don’t agree (denials) in which case you have to explain why; or
如果不确定是否属实，可以表示“不知道”（即“不承认”）。 Say you have no clue about it (called a “non-admission”) if you can’t figure out whether it’s true or not.

承认事情时要谨慎，一旦承认，撤回承认需要得到法院的许可。

Be careful about admitting things, because once you’ve done it, you need the Court’s leave to withdraw an admission.

题外话，如果被告有“反诉”，可以对原告提出“反诉”。反诉是针对原告的诉讼请求，通常（但并非总是）与主要案件的事实相关，且与主诉并行进行。

Aside – it’s at this time you can file a “counterclaim” against the plaintiff if you have one. A counterclaim is a claim you have against the plaintiff, usually (not always) related to similar or connected facts, that runs parallel with the main proceeding.

REPLY

然后，原告将有最后一次机会回应被告的辩护陈述中提出的任何新问题。

The plaintiff then has one last chance to deal with anything new you might have raised in your Defence.

这被称为“答复”，原告在被送达辩护陈述后有14天的时间提交答复。

This is called a “Reply”, and the plaintiff has 14 days to file it after being served with a defence.

理论上，被告此时可以提交一份称为“复辩状”的文件，但这种情况并不常见，因此本文不作详细说明。

In theory, there is another document the defendant could file at this point called a “rejoinder” but it’s not very common so we won’t expand on this in this article.

诉状阶段结束

CLOSE OF PLEADINGS

一旦答复被送达或答复时限已过，便视为“诉状阶段结束”。

Once a Reply is served or the time for doing so has passed, it’s called the “close of pleadings”.

这个说法不能按字面理解，因为它给人一种无法再改变未来事情的感觉。

This is a bit of a misnomer because it sounds like you then can’t change things going forward.

实际上，在复杂的诉讼程序中，索赔陈述、辩护陈述和答复经常会被反复修改。

In fact it’s common for Statements of Claim, Defences and Replies to be amended multiple times throughout a larger proceeding.

不断修改的诉状是昂贵和让人筋疲力尽的，但遗憾的是，这很常见而且对于获得好的结果而言，别无选择。

It can also be frustrating and expensive to respond to continually amended pleadings, but unfortunately you don’t have much choice.

公开

DISCLOSURE

我们关心“诉讼阶段结束”的日期的真正原因，是因为它触发了披露的要求。

The only real reason we care about the “close of pleadings” date is because that triggers the need to do disclosure.

披露就是列出你所掌握或控制的、与诉讼中的争议指控相关的所有 “文件”，并根据要求提供这些文件。Disclosure is the process of listing, and providing on request, all of the “documents” in your possession or control that are relevant to the allegations in issue in the proceeding.

答辩阶段结束后，您有 28 天的时间进行信息披露。这也是一项持续性义务，因此如果您后来发现了其他情况或掌握了其他文件，您也必须进行披露。You have 28 days after the close of pleadings to perform disclosure. It’s also an ongoing obligation so if you find anything else later or documents come into your possession, you have to disclose them too.

“文件”是一个广泛的概念，不仅仅指纸质文档。它包括电子通信，基本上任何能够被提取、打印、查看或列出在清单中的内容。如果不确定，最好假设它是文件。

“Documents” is a wide term and refers to more than just paper. It includes electronic communications and basically anything capable of being extracted, printed, viewed or written down in a list. If in doubt – assume it’s a document.

如果你拥有或能够获得某样东西，那么它就属于你所有或控制。例如，银行对账单就属于你的控制范畴，因为你可以向银行获取。

Something is in your possession or control if you have it, or can get it – so it includes bank statements, for example, since you can just ask your bank for them.

仅仅因为文件看起来不理想就销毁或不披露它，是一个非常危险的做法，可能会让你陷入严重的法律麻烦。

Destroying or failing to disclose documents just because they might look bad is a terrible idea, and can get you into significant strife.

第三方披露——有时候，您可能需要访问由第三方持有的记录，但他们可能不愿意（或由于隐私原因无法）将这些文件交给您。在这种情况下，您可以通过法院程序要求他们提供这些文件。不过，这种情况需要谨慎处理：您必须承担对方合理的费用，因此，现在并不是为了获取文件而进行无目的调查的好时机。

Third Party Disclosure – sometimes you might want to get access to records held by a third party, and they don’t want to (or can’t, for privacy reasons) just hand those documents over. You might be able to compel them to deliver those documents through a Court procedure. That’s one to get advice about, and be warned: you have to pay their reasonable costs of compliance, so it’s not a good time to go on a fishing expedition for every document under the sun.

证据

EVIDENCE

证据主要有两种类型:

There are two main types of evidence:

事实证据 — 你亲眼目睹了某事的发生，亲自做了某事，或发送了某个内容。Factual evidence – you saw something happen, did something, sent something.
意见证据 — 基于一个专家在某领域的专业知识，按照他的判断，ABC很可能是问题的根源。Opinion evidence – based on your expertise in area X, in your opinion ABC likely caused the problem.

在昆士兰州，关于在法院诉讼中聘请专家的规定和规则非常多，超出了本文的讨论范围。不过，尽早与您的律师沟通这一问题是非常重要的。

There are a raft of rules and requirements about engaging experts in a Court proceeding in Queensland that are beyond the scope of this article. However, it’s important to discuss with your lawyers early on:

您是否需要专家的证据支持？Do you need expert evidence?
您是希望获得个人专家报告，还是联合专家报告（虽然大家通常希望是个人报告，但也有相关规定）？Do you want to get your own or a joint expert report (everyone normally wants their own, but there are rules about that too)?
应该为专家提供什么，何时聘用他们，应该由谁来聘请专家？What should the expert be given, when should they be engaged, and who should they be?
您希望专家提供哪些方面的证据？What do you want expert evidence about?

常见的专家类型包括：法务会计师、信息技术专家、破产专家和工料测量师。

Common experts include forensic accountants, IT specialists, insolvency practitioners and quantity surveyors.

专家的费用有可能非常昂贵，取决于案子的复杂程度。

Experts can also be quite expensive.

协商

NEGOTIATIONS

在整个法庭诉讼过程中，你应该始终考虑通过商业方式来解决争议。

Throughout the entire Court proceeding, you should be thinking about a commercial way to resolve the dispute.

因此，尽管协商通常发生在披露和专家证据之后，但它们也可能在任何阶段进行。有时候，尽早进行谈判更有利，而有时候则不然。

So while negotiations commonly take place after disclosure and expert evidence, they can occur at any time. Sometimes early negotiations are better, and other times they are not.

协商通常通过以下几种主要方式进行：

Negotiations tend to take place in a few main ways:

双方律师之间的非正式沟通；Informal conversations between your lawyers and theirs;
载有解决建议的书面信件；Correspondence setting out proposals for settlement;
双方当事人之间的会谈；;Conference between the parties; and
大多数方式都不言自明，不过我们会稍微解释一下调解过程。Most of these are self-explanatory, although we’ll explain mediation a little more.

调解是一个由独立人士（称为调解员）参与的过程，目的是促进当事方之间的讨论。调解员的工作不是做出决定，而是推动各方达成解决方案。他们通常是相关领域的专家、专业调解员、法院工作人员或大律师。大律师可能仍是最常见的选择。

Mediation is a process where an independent person (called the mediator) is engaged to facilitate discussions between the parties. The mediator’s job is not to make a decision, but rather to move the parties towards a resolution. Usually they are experts in a relevant field, professional mediators, Court staff, or barristers. Barristers are probably still the most common choice.

调解员通常会从小组会议开始，听取各方的开场陈述。接着，他们会分别与每一方单独讨论，传递各方的想法或信息，并给出自己的意见。这样做的目的是帮助你识别案件中的薄弱环节和潜在风险，从而增加达成和解的可能性。

A mediator will often start with a group session and hear opening statements by the parties. They will then have independent discussions with each party and convey thoughts or messages back and forth, together with their own commentary. The point of this is to highlight the weaker parts of your case and the risks so that you are more likely to move on your settlement position.

在调解中，所谓好的结果，是让各方都在一定程度上感到“不满意”的结果。各方的妥协通常意味着达成的结果并非完全符合每一方的理想预期，然而，这种“不满意”正是平衡和妥协的体现。

The most common introduction to mediation is that a “good” outcome is where everyone is equally unhappy with it. In our experience, that’s about right.

通过调解或其他方式达成的协商结果的最大的好处是，您可以确定结果，避免不确定性，并节省诉讼成本。

The main benefit of any negotiated outcome, achieved via mediation or otherwise, is that you get the certainty of the outcome, and avoid the uncertainty and costs of going to trial.

许多法院会要求双方在正式开庭审理之前尝试某种形式的正式争议解决程序，如调解、和解会议等。这样做的目的是减少法院的负担，同时也促使双方通过协商解决问题，从而节约时间和资源。Apart from any other reason it’s a good idea, many Courts will require you to engage in some kind of formal dispute resolution attempt before agreeing to list a matter for a trial.

审判

TRIAL

审判之所以被称为“审判”，是有原因的。

A trial is called by that name for a reason.

请注意，它可不是叫‘轻而易举’或者‘法院带你悠闲散步’——它之所以叫审判，是因为它确实艰难。Notice it’s not called an “easy” or a “Court directed walk in the park” – it’s called a trial.

审判不仅在经济上十分昂贵，而且在个人层面也充满挑战。

The reason is that it’s expensive and challenging at both financial and personal levels.

在法庭上作证并不有趣。向一个不认识你、不了解你的法官陈述案情也不轻松。法官对你的情况的第一印象通常来自当天的开场陈述。Being a witness in Court isn’t fun. Nor is presenting your case to a judge who doesn’t know you or anything about you, and whose first introduction to your situation is usually the opening statements on the day.

在审判过程中，通常会发生以下情况：

At a trial here’s what will generally happen:

原告将首先向法庭陈述案情；The plaintiff will open their case with an initial statement to the Court;
接着，原告将传唤证人，并出示证据。这些证人也将接受对方律师的交叉质询（很可能会被对方律师问一些尖锐的问题）。 The plaintiff will then call its witnesses and present its evidence in support of its case. These witnesses will also be cross-examined (that is, asked annoying questions by) the other side’s lawyers;
原告将结束其案件陈述。 The plaintiff will close its case.
被告随后也将以类似的方式提交证据。 The Defendant will then similarly present its evidence.
双方将就所提出的证据涉及的法律问题，进行口头或书面的法律意见陈述。 The parties will give either oral or written submissions on the legal implications of the evidence they have presented.
法院最终将作出判决。 The Court will eventually make a decision.

审判后裁决所需的时间无法预测，有时可能只需一到两周，然而有时可能需要六个月或更长时间。

How long a decision might take after a trial is impossible to predict. Sometimes it takes a week or two, and sometimes it might take 6 months or more.

了解诉讼费用

UNDERSTANDING COSTS

大多数人知道，法庭听证会的“获胜者”通常会得到对方支付其法律费用的命令。Most people know that the “winner” of a Court hearing normally should expect an order that the other side pay their legal costs.

然而，许多人不知道的是，这些费用是按照法院标准计算的，可能与实际发生的费用差距较大。

What many people don’t know is that those costs are calculated on a Court scale, and might be little or no resemblance to the costs you have actually incurred to get to a trial.

根据具体法院及其他多种因素，经过费用评估程序（本身就非常繁琐），预计任何费用裁定可能仅能弥补您实际律师费用的30%至70%左右。Depending on the Court and a variety of other factors, you might expect any costs order could cover around 30 – 70% of your actual legal spend, after going through the assessment process (which is a headache in itself).

所以，不要以为自己胜诉就能收回全部诉讼费用而提起诉讼。事实是很可能不会收回全部费用。So don’t commence litigation assuming that you’ll get all your costs back if you win. You probably won’t.

在诉讼过程中常常让人感到焦虑的事情

THINGS THAT OFTEN FRUSTRATE PEOPLE IN LITIGATION

诉讼中可能有很多细节会让您沮丧焦虑，提前了解会对您的诉讼有帮助。

We thought it might be useful to address a few common complaints about the process.

时间

TIME

我们在上述时间框架中列举的只是理想化的情况。实际上，大多数案件在开庭一年内是不会被安排审判的，尽管理论上不排除一年内解决的可能性。

What we’ve set out above in the timeframes is the idyllic version. Realistically most matters wouldn’t be listed for a trial inside a year of starting, although it’s theoretically possible.

修正案

AMENDMENTS

正如我们之前提到的，在整个诉讼过程中，对方可能会多次修改他们的案件。虽然这可能让人感到烦恼，但公平而言，你也同样有机会做出调整以保证最佳效果。

As we hinted above, the other party can change its case multiple times throughout the proceeding. That can get annoying. In fairness though, you have a chance to do the same.

费用命令

COSTS ORDERS

费用问题正如我们上文讨论的，即使胜诉也不能收回全部法律费用。

For the reasons we already mentioned above.

中间申请

INTERLOCUTORY APPLICATIONS

在诉讼期间，双方有时会就较小的问题（而非整个审判）寻求法院的干预。这就需要用到中间申请。例如，如果您认为对方陈述案情不够详细，您无法理解，而对方拒绝更改，您可以向法院申请强制对方更改。

While litigation is happening parties sometimes seek the Court’s intervention on smaller points (not the full trial). They do this through applications. So, for example, if you believe the other side hasn’t set out their case in sufficient detail for you to understand it, and they refuse to change, you might apply to the Court to force them.

不过，如果中间申请数量过多，可能会导致费用增加，而且不可避免地会拖延案件进展。因此，尽管这种方式既有用又常见，但如果可能的话，最好还是通过双方沟通来解决问题。

The downside is that these applications can get expensive if there are more than a few, and they inevitably delay the progression of the matter. So while they are useful and common, it’s regularly better to try and sort things out in correspondence if you can.

追偿

RECOVERY

赢得官司并不意味着您能够拿到钱。在经历漫长且耗资巨大的诉讼之后，许多当事人可能会陷入财务困境。因此，即使您胜诉，也有风险您无法拿回判决债务或追回您所支出的诉讼费用。

Winning a case doesn’t mean you get paid. After the time and costs of significant litigation, many protagonists will find themselves in financial distress. So, even if you win, it might be that you do not get paid your judgment debt, or recover any of the costs that you have expended.

当然，我们可以协助您采取追偿措施，但有时也可能无计可施。

Of course there are recovery options that we can help you with, but sometimes there isn’t much to be done.

以上就是我们为您整理的昆士兰州诉讼指南。当然，除了本文提到的内容，还有许多其他选择、考虑因素和不同的操作方式。

So that’s our guide to litigation in Queensland. Of course, there are lots of options, variables and other ways of doing things beyond what we’ve set out here.

如果您正在考虑起诉某人，或者刚刚被起诉，请随时联系我们获得专业的法律协助。

But if you’re thinking of commencing proceedings against someone, or you’ve just been sued in Court, get in touch and we’d be happy to help you out.