Revisiting Final Decisions: Where New Circumstances End And Legal Certainty Begins

The review of final and binding court acts on the basis of newly discovered or new circumstances is an exceptional procedural mechanism. It is not designed to give a disappointed party a second chance to reargue the court’s conclusions. Rather, it applies where, at the time the case was heard, the relevant circumstances:

1. objectively were not and could not have been known to the applicant; or
2. could not be confirmed by the evidence available to the applicant at that time.

By that stage, ordinary appeal mechanisms have usually already been exhausted. In such a situation, a party may turn to Article 455 of the Civil Procedure Code of Kazakhstan (“CPC”)¹, which sets out the grounds and procedure for reviewing court acts on the basis of newly discovered or new circumstances.