GRENADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Linda Dolland, Seon & Associates
• Privy Council (final court) – Grenada has not adopted the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final appellate court. 2.3 Pre-Action Conduct For certain types of claims, namely for claims for a specified sum of money, motor vehicle accidents and personal injury claims, there are requirements that pre-action protocol letters are issued before the claim can be initiated before the court. If a party fails to comply with the pre-action protocol requirements, an adverse costs order may be made against the party that has failed to comply. 2.4 Stages of Court Proceedings The stages of litigation are generally as follows. • Filing of the Claim Form and Statement of Claim. • Service within jurisdiction or out of jurisdiction with permission. • Acknowledgment of Service; normally within 14 days of service. • Defence; usually within 28 days of service of the Claim Form. • Case Management Conference where the court actively manages the case, and sets timetables for the progression of the claim, including considera- tion of mediation. • Mediation (if the parties agree to attend mediation after the initiation of the claim). • Disclosure and inspection. • Witness statements. • Pre-trial review and possibly a Judicial Settlement Conference (JSC). • Trial (if the JSC fails). • Judgment and Assessment of Damages. • Appeal. • Enforcement. The typical duration of a matter from filing the claim to trial is approximately three years, with a further two- year period if the final judgment is appealed. 2.5 Confidentiality Certain court proceedings are heard in open court, and, accordingly, the public is able to view the pro- ceedings. These include administrative/public law proceedings, mortgage proceedings, guardianship
proceedings, and any proceedings which are initiated pursuant to legislation. Other categories of disputes, such as contract, tort, and applications are heard in chambers and to that extent they are considered private or confidential. 2.6 Interim Relief Interim relief is often sought by litigants, and the East- ern Caribbean Civil Procedure Rules 2023 provide a vast array of relief that is available. These include interim injunctions, freezing orders, search orders, orders for inspection, custody, preservation and sale of property, orders to deliver up goods, interim pay- ments, and orders to provide information. 2.7 Final Relief Key types of final relief that are available to a litigant in commercial litigation are damages (general, spe- cial, aggravated, and exemplary in limited categories), recovery of debt, declarations, final injunctions, spe- cific performance, rescission, restitution, account of profits, possession of land, orders for sale, and spe- cific delivery of goods. 2.8 Damages In Grenada, damages are assessed on common-law principles, the aim of which is to put the claimant in the position they would have been in had the wrong not occurred or to restore the claimant to the pre- injury position. In doing so, the court applies the rules in relation to remoteness, mitigation, and causation. While arbitration is widely acknowledged and included into contractual documents in Grenada, it is not as regularly used for dispute resolution as mediation and litigation. Arbitration is used more in specific industry areas such as employment, construction and invest- ment disputes. 3.2 Restrictions on Use of Arbitration Arbitration is unavailable in Grenada for matters that are non-arbitrable as a matter of public policy. This includes matrimonial matters, criminal proceedings, 3. Arbitration 3.1 Prevalence
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