Legal liability in civil and commercial proceedings and in mediation procedure

Introduction: the article is concerned with the analysis of the legal liability institution in civil and commercial proceedings, as well as in the mediation procedure, where this institution, although implemented similarly, still has a fairly large number of distinctions, specific features and disputable aspects that have not been eliminated by the recent judicial reform. Purpose: to identify the current differences and problems in the legal liability regulation in civil and commercial proceedings and in the mediation procedure, and to develop proposals for their elimination, including through studying experience of some leading countries. Methods: theoretical methods of formal and dialectical logic, comparative methods, juridical dogmatic method, and legal norm interpretation. Results: analysis of Russian procedural legislation has revealed a fairly large number of unreasonable differences in legal regulation in the areas under study, as well as insufficient maturity of measures against bad faith procedural behavior. At the same time, analysis of legislation in a number offoreign countries allowed us to discover some interesting norms covering legal liability. Conclusions: for improving the efficiency of legal liability measures in civil proceedings, in commercial proceedings, and in the mediation procedure, it is necessary to: revise the principle of calculating the fines imposed by court, make the fine amount conditional upon the amount of the claim and the dispute category, and reduce the differences in their amounts depending on the subject's legal status; to mutually complement civil proceedings and commercial proceedings with sanctions for breaching the adversarial principle and the rules of evidence, and for bad faith procedural behavior, and to standardize these measures; to strengthen legal liability in the mediation procedure.