Table of Contents

• Introduction
• I.- Statutes of Limitations
• General Rule
• Stale in Two Years
• Stale in Five Years
• II.- Strict Rule Principle
• III.- Spanish as Official Language
• IV.-Civil Complaint’s Requirements (Demanda)
• Attached Documents
• Attaching More Evidence’s Ban
• Joint Claims
• Discontinuance and Withdrawal
• V.- Service of Summons
• Services of Summons by Publications
• VI.- Answer and Pleas of the Civil Complaint
• Dilatory Pleas
• Peremptory Pleas
• VII.- Counterclaim
• VIII.- Abandonment of the Case
• Rules
• IX.- Hearings
• Bench Trial Monopoly
• Principles of the Hearings
• Orality
• Publicity
• Equality
• Immediacy
• Contradiction
• Continuity
• Concentration
• X.- Preliminary Hearing
• 1) Procedure Purgation
• 2)Conciliation of the Parties
• 3)Arrangement on Uncontroversial Facts
• 4)Evidentiary Agreements
• 5)Evidence Admission
• Evidence’s Appeal
• Evidence’s Revocation Relief
• Documents Objection
• 6)Setting for the Oral Trial Hearing
• XI.- Oral Trial Hearing

Introduction

When you live in a border city, there is more likelihood of having legal problems on both sides of the border. That’s what happens with residents of the United States, particularly Las Cruces, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Therefore, their inhabitants should know briefly how their legal systems work and what to expect if they have to defend their rights in court.

This is important because, as border residents, most of the time people make bonds on both sides of the border, which by itself begets matters that must be dealt with by the law, like businesses, real estate, family relationships, employment, etc. Moreover, those legal relationships rarely can be solved in the hometown of one of the parties. Hence, it’s essential to be aware of how the legal system works in Mexico, too.

I’m not talking nonsense because, as an expert witness in Mexican Law in trials carried out in El Paso, Texas, I confirmed that a lot of cases where parties made deals in Mexico and pretended to litigate them in the US, at the end of the day lose their cases because it had to be litigated in Mexico. However, because they didn’t know what to expect here—because there is not much information about our legal system in English— they took the risk of filing a lawsuit in Texas just to be set aside for not being the convenient forum.

To dispel this ignorance of Mexico’s legal processes, I will start by explaining in this new entry the basic procedural rules of the ordinary trials in Chihuahua pursuant to the current Code of Civil Procedures of the State of Chihuahua^[1], without touching those special processes like mortgage foreclosure, inheritance processes—which I wrote about in the entry called ‘An Overview of the Inheritance Processes in Chihuahua‘— and more. This is due to the fact that most legal problems among border residents arise from contracts, civil liability, real estate, and so on. Nevertheless, in the following entries, I will deal with commercial, tax, administrative, labor, and banking processes.

As a final caveat, at first, I thought about writing in one entry the whole civil process, including the analysis of its hearings, legal presumptions, adjudication, requirements of the claim, answer, judgment’s enforcement, legal remedies, and more. However, I realized the post would be lengthy, complicated, and cumbersome for the reader. Then, I decided to split the post into two parts, one where I cover the basics of the civil process and another where I deal with more specific questions such as what kind of evidence parties can present, how the court weighs them, how courts adjudicate in Mexico, and more.

Thus, in this entry, you will find the following topics: 1) Statutes of Limitations, 2) What is the Strict Rule Principle; 3) Official Language, 4) Civil Complaint’s Requirements, 5) Service of Summons, 6) Answer and Pleas of the Civil Complaint, 7) Counterclaim, 8) Abandonment of the Case and 9) Civil Hearings and their Principles; whereas in the next entries, I will cover topics regarding proofs regulated in the law, how courts weigh those proofs, the adjudication of the case and its rules (which you can find in the entry Chihuahua’s Ordinary Civil Trial Part II. How Courts Weigh and Value Evidence) How Courts Weigh and Value Evidence, judgment’s appeal, direct amparo proceedings (which you can find in the entry Chihuahua’s Ordinary Civil Trial Part III. Case Adjudication and Its Challenge), the judgment’s enforcement, legal fees’ payment, and more. Having stated that, without further ado, let’s start.

I.- Statutes of Limitations

Like in many countries, plaintiffs have a narrow time to file their claims, otherwise, they could become stale, and the defendant could win the case just with the peremptory plea or defense called ‘prescripción’. That’s also the case in Chihuahua for civil trials, which essentially regulates the statutes of limitations throughout the entire Civil Code of the State of Chihuahua. Still, most of the legal hypotheses are contained in articles 1160 to 1166 with the following rules:

General Rule

As a general provision, civil obligations that do not have a special rule established in the institution by which it was created stale after a lapse of 10 years.

Stale in Two Years

Those claims derived from:

1.- To claim fees, salaries, wages, or other remuneration for the provision of any service—which implied not be ruled by the labor law, of course—.

2.- The civil action of any merchant to collect the price of goods sold to people who were not resellers.

3.- The action of the owners of hotels and guest houses to collect the amount of the accommodation and that of these and the innkeepers to collect the price of the food they provide.

4.- Civil liability for injuries, whether made orally or in writing, and civil liability arising from damage caused by people or animals and that the law imposes on the representative of those or the owner of these.

5.- Civil liability arising from illegal acts that do not constitute infractions

Antisocial (felonies)

Stale in Five Years

Those claims derived from:

1.- Pensions, annuities, rents, and any other periodic benefits not

collected upon maturity will be staled in five years, counted from the expiration of each of them, whether the collection is made under real action or personal action.

2.- The obligation of rendering accounts. In the same term, the liquid obligations or debts resulting from the rendering of accounts.

II.- Strict Rule Principle

In Mexico, we have a legal tendency to aid parties in certain matters of law where lawmakers think there is an asymmetric relationship among them. For example, in labor relationships, it is presumed employers have more money by the simple fact of controlling the factors of production. Therefore, with that money, they could seek better legal counsel and representation.

In those special matters of law, we have a legal institution known as suplencia de la queja or ‘redressing of claim’ that implies judges may help the unfavorable party and redress its claim. Even request ex officio evidence that was not offered initially in its claim. 

For me, that is an outdated institution because nowadays, a party cannot be represented by itself in court and must be represented by a licensed attorney in all matters of law. Then, if the State regulates who can be an attorney and he passes its requirements, there is no more reason to sustain such an awful institution. However, I will not go further because that’s not the main topic of this entry.

The opposite of those processes ruled by the principle of suplencia de la queja is those regulated by the strict rule principle, which implies that the judge could not help one of the parties, even if it’s obvious that their attorneys and representatives are notoriously incompetent and are endangering their claim. Principle regulated in articles 2 and 4 of Chihuahua’s Civil Code^[2]. 

I will digress a little bit on this topic because it’s important. Therefore, before retaining an attorney, you should meditate if he really practices law or is just a phony professional with excellent English. My recommendation is to don’t choose attorneys based only on their English skills. Most Mexican attorneys who live on the border had the luck of being raised in the US somehow. Thus, it’s obvious why they have a great domain of the language. However, keep in mind that what you need for legal matters is an attorney, not an interpreter.

I broach up this because I’ve seen many phony attorneys who claim to be litigators, whereas their only talent is that they were raised in the United States but know little about Mexican law, and sooner or later, their incautious clients find out. Choose wisely.

Finally, as you will see in how the hearings and legal remedies function in Mexico, instead of looking for William Shakespeare, you should look for Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra since, in Mexico, attorneys argue and prove cases most of the time through written language. Therefore, the one who knows how to write clearly and cohesively in Spanish is more likely to win the case.

III.- Spanish as Official Language

According to article 64, paragraph sixth of the code, if one of the parties is not fluent in Spanish, the court shall appoint an interpreter to assist him in the whole process and also would let him appoint a reliable person who is fluent in Spanish to accompany him. Still, all judicial proceedings must be carried out in Spanish.

IV.-Civil Complaint’s Requirements (Demanda)

Pursuant to article 241 of the Code of Civil Procedures of the State of Chihuahua, the following requirements must be satisfied at the time of filing the civil claim:

1.- Plaintiff shall write out the civil complaint.

2.- Plaintiff shall mention the court before which the complaint is filed ( in this case, it’s the Civil Oral Court of Chihuahua’s State)

3. To receive notifications, the plaintiff must specify his name or company’s name (if the lawsuit involves a legal person) and his address.

4.- The name or denomination of the defendant and his address in which the service of summons shall be done.

5.- What is claimed in court (such as contract termination or enforcement, adverse possession, moral damages, etc.)

6.- Clear, precise, and numbered narration of the background on which the plaintiff bases his claims, specifying the public or private documents related to each fact mentioning if he has those documents at his disposal. Likewise, he shall provide the names and addresses of witnesses who perceived the relative events of the background (if he fails to do so, witnesses shall not be admitted at the preliminary hearing)

7.- Legal provisions, principles, and judicial criteria that support his claim.

8.- The evidence the plaintiff pretends to present in court, expressing with clarity and precision the facts that he is trying to demonstrate with them. If he doesn’t meet the abovementioned requirements, his proof shall not be admitted at the preliminary hearing.

9.- Finally, his signature or of his representative. If he doesn’t know or cannot sign, he shall put his fingerprint, signed by another person on his behalf and at his request, indicating these circumstances.

Attached Documents

On the other hand, in the civil complaint, the plaintiff must attach the following documents:

1.- Those who establish or sustain the attempted civil action (for example, contracts, etc.)

2.- Those who prove the representation held when sued on behalf of someone else.

3.- Simple copies of everything attached to render the service of summons.

Attaching More Evidence’s Ban

Once the civil complaint was filed and the court admitted it and also ordered to render the service of summons to the defendant, the plaintiff can’t attach more evidence during the trial unless the following legal hypotheses occurred:

1.- Those proofs dated after the filing of the civil complaint.

2.- Those proofs that have not been possible to obtain previously for reasons beyond the plaintiff’s control, and only if he designated in his civil complaint where the originals are. The court, according to its judicial power, shall obtain those documents.

3.- Those proofs dated prior to the filing of the civil complaint, and as long as the plaintiff avers under oath he was not aware of their existence before and that also those proofs do not introduce new elements to the points that make up the controversy.

Joint Claims

One rule similar to statutes of limitations is found in article 36 of the code. It states that when the plaintiff has several civil actions against the defendant, he must file them in the same civil complaint. If he fails to do so, all the civil actions that he could try in the same civil complaint shall be extinguished.

Nevertheless, the plaintiff would not be obligated to file all his actions if the civil actions are 1) contradictory to each other, 2) depend on the result of one and the other, and 3) civil actions that correspond to different jurisdictions.

Finally, even though two parties may have a common interest in a casa, the code does not require them to file jointly their claims. Therefore, each one can pursue their own lawsuit, even if they may have what in the US is known as privity.

Discontinuance and Withdrawal

Once the civil complaint is filed, the plaintiff can withdraw all his claims, but the following rules shall be met:

1.- The withdrawal of the civil complaint before the service of summons is rendered causes the legal things to return to their state before the beginning of the process and does not obligate the plaintiff to pay legal fees to the defendant.

2.- The withdrawal of the civil complaint after the service of summons is rendered—which in any case requires the consent of the defendant— only has the effect of dismissing the case, but it doesn’t imply he forewent his civil actions. Moreover, the plaintiff shall pay the defendant’s legal fees unless otherwise agreed.

3.- The withdrawal of the civil actions extinguishes them and does not require the defendant’s consent. Still, after the civil complaint was answered and the service of summons was made, the plaintiff must pay the legal fees incurred by the defendant, as well as damages caused, unless otherwise agreed.

V.- Service of Summons

Once the civil complaint is admitted, the court shall order to render service of summons to the defendant at the address provided by the plaintiff, giving him notice that he has been sued and has 9 business days to answer the claims. 

The dynamic of the service of summons in Chihuahua is that the attorney or his paralegals, by his own means, must take the public officer called actuario (who has public faith and is the only one who can give notice to the defendant of the civil complaint) to carry out the service of summons at the defendant’s address. This generally takes a month, but it varies according to the workload of the actuario. However, if the defendant is not at the place, the attorney may make multiple attempts until the defendant is found at his domicile and the service of summons can be rendered.

If the actuario attests that the domicile does not belong to the defendant or that no one lives there, the service of summons may be made by publications if the requirements are met.

Services of Summons by Publications

In accordance with article 138 of the Procedural Code, if the defendant’s domicile is ignored, the court shall order to obtain a report from public authorities or private service companies not later than within the period of three business days (like internet, cable, and so on) to provide from their records the last domicile of the defendant. If there is a domicile, the service of summons must be rendered there unless the actuario makes sure the defendant doesn’t live there.

Finally, if there is no domicile in which the defendant can be summoned to the trial, the court shall be authorized to render the service of summons by publications, which consists of publishing the order of admission of the civil complaint three times consecutive three in three days, in a newspaper with wide circulation in the state of Chihuahua and the Official State Newspaper.

VI.- Answer and Pleas of the Civil Complaint

Once the defendant is summoned to the trial, within the term of 9 business days, he must answer the claim subjecting his answer to the rules applicable to the civil complaint. Moreover, the defendant must oppose the legal pleas (excepciones) he considers pertinent to his case, taking into account that in Mexico, we have two types of pleas: dilatory and peremptory.

The distinction between legal pleas in Mexico is that the nature of the dilatory plea only delays the resolution on the merits of the case, its study has to be done in the first oral hearing (preliminary hearing), whereas the peremptory plea is intended to destroy the civil action itself and obliges the court to resolve the case on merits, and finally weigh the evidence exhibited by the parties in the trial that sustain such plea. Its study rarely may be done at the preliminary hearing (like res judicata plea), too, but generally is done until the court’s judgment.

Most of the time, pleas are expressly regulated by lawmakers in the Code of Civil Procedures of the State of Chihuahua and explain their nature. However, some are not, and the court shall construe their true nature. An example of the aforementioned is this judicial criterion: DILATORY AND PEREMPTORY PLEAS. THEIR DISTINCTION SHOULD NOT BE BASED ONLY ON THE NAME THAT THE PARTIES GAVE TO THEM BUT ON THEIR LEGAL NATURE.

Dilatory Pleas

The Code of Civil Procedures of the State of Chihuahua listed the most used dilatory pleas in its article 41, but along the entire code, we can find more. The most important are the following:

1.- Lack of jurisdiction.

2.- Litispendence, which implies another related suit is pending and can affect the studied case

3.-Correlated suits, when two lawsuits must be resolved in the same judgment because somehow they are related, even though both cases don’t have the same parties

4.- Lack of capacity or personality of the parties or their representatives.

5.- Failure to comply with the condition to which the action is subject before filing.

6.- The division and the excussion of the action.

7.- The inadmissibility of the form of action implies another venue should have been used. For example, it’s common in contracts when the plaintiff believes the contract’s nature is civil, whereas, in reality, it is commercial. Therefore, the commercial court should adjudicate the case.

8.- Document’s Forgery, this plea consists of arguing that the documents provided by the plaintiff are false or altered, and to prove it, the defendants offer an expert witness in, for example, graphoscopy, forensic document expert, etc.

Peremptory Pleas

In opposition to the dilatory pleas, peremptory ones don’t have a list in Chihuahua’s Codes. However, the most important and most used are the following:

1.- Res judicata (cosa juzgada) that implies a court has adjudicated a matter of law and the issue is resolved.

2.- Reflect res judicata (cosa juzgada refleja) that, in the English-speaking systems, is known as collateral estoppel. Mexico’s higher courts construed this legal institution. Therefore, it doesn’t have support by Chihuahua’s statutes, although attorneys can broach up in litigations. This peremptory plea prevents one party from relitigating an issue or facts of a case that had been resolved, although that case involved different parties and more issues.

3.- Inadmissibility of the action that implies that although the venue is correct, one or more elements of the actions have not been met or proved. This peremptory plea can only be studied on the merits of the case.

4.- Statutes of limitations, which as I stated, the civil obligations have gone stale. Therefore, they are unenforceable.

5.- Plea of Payment, which means that when the plaintiff alleges a payment from a debt hasn’t been done, the defendant proves that it has already been done.

6.- Novation Plea, which implies that another obligation replaced the civil obligation that originated the claim.

7.- Lack of Standing, which implies that the plaintiff doesn’t have the right to litigate the case or the defendant doesn’t have the obligation to be involved in the lawsuit.

8.- Confusion or Meger Rights, which implies the concurrence in the same person of the condition of being debtor and creditor, thus producing an irregular situation due to the impossibility of being one’s own debtor.

9.- Compensation Plea, which implies when two people are debtors of each other, compensation is carried out between them that extinguishes both debts.

VII.- Counterclaim

Within the legal term of 9 business days in which the defendant must answer the civil complaint, he can countersuit the plaintiff to offset it. If the defendant chooses to do so, he must follow the rules for writing and filing a civil complaint, including simple copies of the counterclaim and its proofs, to render the service of summons.

VIII.- Abandonment of the Case

Once the defendant answers the civil complaint and everything is set for the hearings, both parties—but essentially the plaintiff should be more interested— have to be aware that if they fail to spur the prosecution of the case, the court can dismiss the case under the figure of caducidad de la instancia which means the abandonment of the case. You need to keep in mind that the civil process is a strict rule of law process, which means parties must agitate for its continuation until its end.

Rules

1.- The abandonment of the case in the first instance of proceedings shall operate as a matter of law from the first order issued to it concludes the hearing of evidence, arguments, and judgment (Oral Trial Hearing) if, after one hundred and twenty business days computed from the notification of the last judicial determination, there has been no motion that tends to agitate the process by either party.

2.- This figure cannot be cured, and it doesn’t have to be invoked by one of the parties. The court can broach it up ex officio^[3].

3.- The abandonment of the case ends the civil process, but it doesn’t extinguish the civil action.

4.- The abandonment of the case in the first instance makes the trial proceedings void, and things must return to the state they had before the filing of the lawsuit, and all precautionary attachments shall be lifted. Except resolutions referred to jurisdiction issues, litispendence, correlated suits, lack of capacity, and personality, which shall govern the subsequent trial, it is promoted again. Finally, the evidence displayed in the process may be broached up in the new trial if offered according to the code.

5.- The abandonment of the case in the second instance occurs if, within sixty business days counting from the notification of the last judicial determination, none of the parties have agitated the procedure—only if they must do so, which is really rare in appeal reliefs, as you will see—, and its effect will be to make firm what acted before the judge.

IX.- Hearings

Bench Trial Monopoly

Fortunately, in Mexico, we don’t have a legal institution known as a ‘jury’. Therefore, the only one who can adjudicate and resolve a legal dispute is a judge whose expertise is proved—at least theoretically— by having a law degree and, with it, a supposed knowledge of how to construe, argue, and weigh evidence.

Judges, magisters, and justices resolve all instances of a legal case without the intervention of people without a legal degree.

Principles of the Hearings

Pursuant to article 240 of the code, the Ordinary Civil Trial shall meet some principles, which are 1) Orality, 2) Publicity, 3) Equality, 4) Immediacy, 5) Contradiction, 6) Continuity, and 7) Concentration.

Orality

This principle means that almost all acts, and even parties’ motions, must be done orally during the hearings, including presenting the evidence. However, in reality, our legal system is not as ready as other forums because we have vestiges of a writing system, although people often think for a hearing, at least in Mexico, it is like a contest of rhetoric. That’s further from the truth.

As you will see in the chapter dedicated to the study of civil proofs, there are few moments in which attorneys intervene orally without reading or using handouts. Hence, formally, our civil process is predominantly oral, but in fact, that’s a blatant lie.

Publicity

This principle means that the hearings can be witnessed by the public, which increases legal certainty in the judicial process and partially democratizes the administration of justice. Nevertheless, in some delicate cases, the court may order a ban on outsiders’ access to the hearing.

Equality

This principle means that both parties are equal under the law and in the whole process. Therefore, the judge won’t aid one of them or treat them leniently.

Immediacy

This means the judge must have direct contact with the parties and also the evidence presented in the case in order to weigh them in his judgment. That direct contact cannot be delegated to others since, previously, in our old legal system, the person who witnessed the presentation of the evidence and even attended the parties and directed the ‘hearings’ was a mere court clerk. Yes, unbelievable.

Contradiction

It means that the parties have the right to debate and refute the facts, legal arguments, and evidence presented by their counterpart.

Continuity

This principle implies that the hearings must be uninterrupted, exceptionally allowing their suspension only in a few cases, such as:

1.- When one of the parties dies without a legal representative.

2.- Due to total or temporary loss of legal capacity.

3.- When due to a fortuitous event or force majeure the courts are unable

to act.

4.- When all parties agreed to interrupt the prosecution of the civil process for conciliation purposes, which in any case cannot exceed 60 natural days.

Concentration

This principle implies trying to perform and resolve the greatest number of procedural actions in a single hearing.

X.- Preliminary Hearing

This is the first hearing, and both parties must be present by themselves or through a representative. The hearing consists of 6 stages, which are: 1) procedure purgation, 2) conciliation of the parties, 3) arrangement on uncontroversial facts, 4) evidentiary agreements, 5) evidence admission, and 6) setting for the Oral Trial Hearing.

1) Procedure Purgation

At this stage, the judge will weigh whether the procedural assumptions are met (jurisdiction by matters, territory, specialty, quantity, etc.) and resolve those dilatory or peremptory pleas that have to be resolved in the preliminary hearing, such as res judicata plea, lack of jurisdiction, legal capacity, plea of forgery, and more of those that I mentioned in the respective chapter of this entry.

If there are dilatory or peremptory pleas that have to be resolved in the preliminary hearing, first off, the judge shall behold the evidence that both parties presented in the hearing, such as expert witnesses and documents. After that, he shall grant up to fifteen minutes to both parties to expose orally why their arguments shall prevail. Once this is done, the judge must resolve the plea by issuing an oral judgment.

Some of those oral judgments may have the effect of ending the case and others with more lenient effects. Nevertheless, all these interlocutory judgments can be subject to the legal remedy known as an appeal.

On the other hand, if the dispute is a matter of pure law and not facts, the judge shall grant up to fifteen minutes for both parties to express their final arguments and conclusions and then shall set a date for a special hearing in which he shall issue and explain his judgment orally.

2)Conciliation of the Parties

At this stage, once the judge is aware of the facts and all the evidence presented, he will try to get the parties to reach an agreement and end the litigation. Also, he will let both parties speak freely and share his views on a hypothetical deal. However, he shall moderate the debate in conciliatory terms and prevent both parties from rambling off the topic.

If the parties don’t settle the dispute at this stage, the judge still shall inform them that they can reach an agreement before the judgment is issued.

3)Arrangement on Uncontroversial Facts

At this stage, both parties may reach an agreement that certain facts of the dispute are not subject to be proved, either because they are too obvious or they are unnecessary to resolve the case.

Although the judge thinks some facts are petty or pointless, he cannot disregard them during the Oral Trial Hearing and in his judgment due to the strict rule of law process that deters him from acting in what may be seen as in favor of one party.

4)Evidentiary Agreements

At this stage, the judge shall allow both parties to reach an agreement about those proofs that may be unnecessary to consider in the Oral Trial Hearing. If they agree, some proofs may be discarded, and the court cannot intervene.

5)Evidence Admission

This stage is essential for the trial due to the fact that the court shall examine the civil complaint and its answers painstakingly, specifically how both parties offered and presented their evidence.

If all the evidence complies with Chihuahua’s legislation, the court shall admit them and instruct to provide, among its court clerks, all orders or acts of the courts that may aid both parties in preparing their evidence for the Oral Trial Hearing, such as request reports from other authorities, individuals, third parties, summon witnesses, appoint expert witnesses, etc.

Evidence’s Appeal

At the same stage, if the judge rules that the whole or particular proof offered for any party doesn’t comply with the civil statutes, he must discard them, expressing orally the reasons and arguments that sustain his rule.

When the court rejects evidence, parties may submit a motion appeal within 6 business days, where they must write out their arguments against the court’s resolution. If they fail to do so, rejecting evidence becomes a consensual act.

If the motion of appeal is submitted timely, a Magister shall resolve through an interlocutory judgment the issue pursuant to the rules of the appeals remedy, which I will talk briefly about later.

Evidence’s Revocation Relief

Sometimes, parties and their attorneys may think some evidence offered by their counterparts is illegal, and despite their arguments, the court pretermitted them and admitted all evidence. In that case, before the Preliminary Hearing changes to a new stage, the attorney must challenge that admission through a legal remedy called revocation relief, which must be submitted orally.

The judge is obligated to study the legal remedy, but some rules must be complied with by the parties to resolve the issue on merits. For example, the petitioner must express which articles of law, legal provisions, or judicial criteria the judge violated while admitting the evidence in dispute. If they fail to do so, even if he is right, the issue is barred for the court under the legal figure of inoperancia or groundless argument.

Again, that’s due to the fact that in civil procedures, courts cannot aid one party when they submit their arguments, and also, once a court rules a decision, it is presumed that it complies with the law. Therefore, parties have the procedural obligation to rebut that presumption.

Once the revocation relief is admitted, the judge shall grant a prudent period for the counterpart to allege what he thinks is convenient. After that, the judge must rule and may affirm, modify, or vacate his challenged decision.

Documents Objection

Parties can object the documentary proofs that their counterpart brought to the lawsuit, expressing why their evidentiary value is not correct. Parties’ arguments may be considered by the court when it issues its judgment. However, as we will see in the next entry, courts are not barred from weighing the evidence brought by the parties and attributing its true nature according to the statutes and several judicial criteria, such as EVIDENCE. THEIR PROBATORY VALUE INVOLVES THE SATISFACTION OF THE FORMAL REQUIREMENTS ESTABLISHED BY THE STATUTES, WHILE THEIR SCOPE REFERS TO THE ANALYSIS CARRIED OUT BY THE JUDGE FOLLOWING LOGICAL AND REASONABLE RULES.

6)Setting for the Oral Trial Hearing

Finally, the judge must set a date and time for the Oral Trial Hearing, which supposedly, pursuant to article 260 of the code, must take place within the next 10 to 40 days. However, in reality and due to the court’s workload, the average period is one and a half to four months.

XI.- Oral Trial Hearing

Once the Oral Trial Hearing arrives, all evidence shall be displayed in the presence of the judge (the documentary proofs shall only be mentioned by the judge), including witnesses, expert witnesses, etc. After this, the judge shall grant each party fifteen minutes to ‘make their case’.

Once the above is done, the judge shall set a new date for the continuation of the hearing in which he shall issue and explain orally his judgment of the case.

Hearing that must be set within the next 10 business days, which may be increased by another 15, given the complexity of the case (This legal period is mandatory. Therefore, courts comply with it)

The intricacies and dynamics of the oral hearing will be explained in the next post, so stay tuned.

By Omar Gómez

Partner

beLegal abogados S.C

Abogados en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México

Visit my personal website at www.ogomezabogado.com

Call (656) 774-75-73 for English assistance

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^[1] On June 7, 2023, the new National Code of Civil and Family Procedures was issued by the Congress of the Union (federal lawmakers), which changed the rules for the civil and family processes in the 32 states of Mexico. However, as of the date of this entry, it has not yet come into force in the state of Chihuahua, nor is there a date for when it shall do so. All this, considering that the union states have the maximum deadline for it to come into force, is April 1, 2027. For this reason, this entry is based on current legislation, without a hitch that when the national code in question comes into force, this post would be updated, or a new one would be simply made with the rules that govern that code.

^[2] Article 2.- Observance of procedural rules is public order. Consequently, for the processing and resolution of matters before the courts, the provisions of this Code will be followed, without the essential rules of the Code being altered or modified by agreement of the parties. Procedure.

Article 4.- The initiative of the process, except in cases in which it corresponds to the prosecutor’s office, is reserved to the parties. The judge will only proceed ex officio when the law determines it expressly.

^[3] According to article 129 bis of the Code of Civil Procedures of the State of Chihuahua.