CAYMAN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sam Dawson, Peter Sherwood and Denis Olarou, Carey Olsen
company or partnership or the status, rights or duties of the relevant director, officer, member or partner in relation to that company or partnership. Other significant gateways permit service out on a defendant who is a necessary or proper party to a suit already commenced or to be commenced, or where: • the claim concerns a contract made within the jurisdiction or governed by Cayman Islands law; • the claim concerns a trust governed by Cayman Islands law; • the claim is brought to enforce any arbitral award; and • the claim is brought in respect of a breach of contract committed in the Cayman Islands or in respect of a tort, fraud or breach of duty where the damage was sustained or resulted from an act committed in the Cayman Islands. 3.6 Failure to Respond The defendant has 14 days from service of the writ (longer if service is outside of the Cayman Islands) to file an acknowledgement of service with the court. If the statement of claim was indorsed on the writ, the defendant then has another 14 days from the time limited for acknowledging service of the writ to file and serve a defence. If the statement of claim was not indorsed on the writ, then it must be filed and served within 14 days of the filing of the acknowledgement of service and the defendant has a further 14 days from service of the statement of claim to file its defence. The consequences of failing to file an acknowledge- ment of service vary depending on the nature of the claim. If the writ is indorsed with a liquidated demand only, failure by the defendant to acknowledge service of the writ and state an intention to defend will entitle the plaintiff to enter final judgment for the principal amount claimed, interest, and fixed costs. If the claim is for unliquidated damages, the plain- tiff may enter an interlocutory judgment against the defendant for damages to be assessed.
Other consequences apply for specialist proceedings, such as claims in detinue, possession of land, and mixed claims. Similar consequences flow where the defendant does acknowledge service of the writ and indicates an intention to defend, but fails to file a defence on time. Judgments entered against the defendant in default of acknowledgement of service or in default of defence are liable to be set aside or varied by the court. In practice, this is only likely to occur if the defendant re-engages in the proceedings and satisfies the court that setting aside or varying the judgment is appro- priate. In general, the defendant’s failure to engage with the legal process will not prevent a plaintiff from obtaining relief. Such failure may, however, have consequences for the enforceability of any resulting judgment in other jurisdictions, but that is a matter of the local law of the relevant foreign jurisdiction. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions There is no formal class action process of the sort that is common in the USA. However, if a number of plain- tiffs all wish to bring the same claim, a representative action by one plaintiff on behalf of the group is pos- sible where all members of the group share a com- mon interest and grievance (though there is currently no concept of a Group Litigation Order as envisaged under the English CPR 19). Orders made in such proceedings are binding on all members of the group. However, they cannot be enforced against non-parties, unless the court orders otherwise. 3.8 Requirements for Cost Estimate There is no requirement to provide clients with a cost estimate.
4. Pre-Trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
The courts have wide powers to make a variety of interim orders and the parties often make a wide vari-
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