Skip to main content
Tag

Litigation

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Malta to Apply the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention by 1st September 2023

Malta, as a European Union (‘EU’) Member State, is bound to apply the 2019 Hague Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, also known as the Hague Judgments Convention, from the 1st of September 2023. This Convention, concluded on the 2nd of July 2019 by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, pertains to one of the three fundamental pillars of private international law, that is, the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The main objective of this legal instrument is to enhance cross-border transactions, ensure legal certainty and improve access to justice on…
Klara Cachia
13th March 2023
Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Court Rejects Moral Damages and Permanent Psychological Disability Claims

In a judgment delivered on the 28th of June 2022 in the names of Rapa et vs Chircop et, sworn application number 886/2018, the First Hall Civil Court was tasked with apportioning responsibility and liquidating damages consequent to a traffic accident which occurred between the car driven by the defendant Chircop and the pedestrian Rapa who had passed away as a result of the accident. In a rare decision, responsibility was not totally allocated to the driver of the vehicle. The Court analysed the CCTV footage which captured the accident as well as various witness testimonies including experts appointed to…
Kirk Brincau
8th July 2022
Litigation & Dispute Resolution

The importance of a correct notification in Court proceedings

Basic as it may seem, the notification process is of fundamental importance when instituting a Court case. This process can at times be used to attack the validity of a judgement and hence, one will certainly understand the importance of getting it right. All this featured in a Court of Appeal judgement, delivered on the 4th of May 2022 in the names Farrugia nomine vs BNF Bank plc (App. Ċiv. 410/19/1). The case concerned a Bank customer, who defaulted in the repayment of her loan facilities. As a result, the Bank called in the facilities and initiated legal proceedings to…
Kevin Cutajar
30th June 2022
Gavel hitting
Employment and Industrial Relations

Court of Appeal Confirms the Enforceability of a Post-termination of Employment Restrictive Clause

In a case decided on the 4th May 2022 (case number 524/14), the Court of Appeal held that a restriction contained in an employment contract which prevented an employee from soliciting or interfering or endeavouring to entice a customer away from the company after termination of employment, for a period of two years, could be enforced by the employer. The First Hall of the Civil Court had decided that since the clause was not restricted to customers with whom the employee had dealings with during his employment, then the clause was null. The Court of Appeal however decided that the…
Christine Calleja
30th June 2022
pexels-photo-534204.jpeg
Legal Update

Bona fide disputes and defining a creditor for the purposes of liquidation proceedings

In a decision delivered on the 13th March 2022, case no. 246/2018 ISB, the Civil Court (Commercial Section) placed the defendant company into liquidation on the ground that it was unable to pay its debts, after considering and concluding that the circumstances that had previously led the Court in the same case to determine the existence of a bona fide dispute and consequently suspend the hearing of the liquidation proceedings, no longer existed. The circumstances referred to consisted of proceedings instituted by defendant company in The Netherlands against the company demanding its liquidation in Malta ('the applicant company') as well…
Mamo TCV Advocates
5th April 2022
News_BOJ.png
Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Landmark Decision on Jactitation Suits

Jactitation suits are a long established remedy found under Maltese procedural law intended to limit one's ability to indefinitely vaunt claims without basis. This type of suit allows any person, whether natural or legal, that has had any form of right vaunted against him in written form to request the court to order the third party claimant to either bring the claim in trial within a period not exceeding three months or be forever precluded from proceeding with such a claim in the future. The remedy is a relatively simple one and while rarely used, due to its practical implications…
Kirk Brincau
27th January 2022