Compensation of payment of a penalty for improper performance (non-performance) of the duties by the parties to legal services supply agreement

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The article is focused on the problem of compensation of payment of a penalty for improper performance (non-performance) of the duties by the parties to legal services supply agreement. The author has indicated that the protection of the rights and interests of the subjects of civil relations, in accordance with the requirements of paragraphs 8, 9 of Part 2 of the Art. 16, paragraphs 3, 4 of Part 1 of the Art. 611 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, can be carried out by means of compensation of damage and other methods of compensation for property damage, compensation for moral (non­property) harm and award of a penalty. The analysis of case-law shows that compensation of damage by customers of legal services, along with termination of contracts, is ranked first within the structure of judicial protection methods in obligations to provide legal services. Talking about the compensation for moral harm and award of a penalty, such methods of protection are applied extremely rarely. Accordingly, the author believes that the problem of the responsibility of a provider of legal services, in particular the matter of classification of the appropriateness (or, on the contrary, inappropriateness) of performing own duties by this party of the obligation, causes the most problematic issues both from the point of view of the doctrine of civil law and legal enforcement practice The author of the article has noted the possibility of applying a penalty for such types of offenses as delay in fulfilling the main obligation (delay in providing a legal service per se) and delay in returning funds to a customer. The legislation of Ukraine does not provide the possibility to apply a penalty in relation to improper (low-quality) service provision. Therefore, if a provider began to provide legal services in time, but provided them improperly, then the application of a penalty (fine) to his illegal behavior will be possible only if the contract concluded between the provider and the customer of legal services specifically stipulates a relevant term. Taking into account the known advantages in the position of legal services’ providers regarding certain dictates of contractual terms at the stage of concluding contracts, such a penalty clause is unlikely to appear in such contracts. The difficulty of applying this type of a penalty is also explained by the problem of determining the criteria for assessing the quality of legal services’ provision. As we have noted, there are no such clear criteria. Therefore, the application of a penalty (fine) for the “low-quality” legal service fulfilled by the provider is also complicated by objective reasons. The author has substantiated the provisions that the composing elements of an offense are required in order to apply a penalty in legal relations on supplying legal services. In contrast to compensation of damage, lesser form of an offense is sufficient for awarding a penalty: wrongfulness of the performer’s behavior and his guilt. In order to avoid unnecessary repetition, we step aside from studying these aspects, since they are sufficiently thoroughly researched in the material of this subsection on compensation of damage.