BELIZE Law and Practice Contributed by: Nigel Ebanks and Darinka Muñoz, Barrow and Williams LLP
5.6 Rules Disallowing Disclosure of a Document
to do so. In Civil Appeal No 3 of 2022 Dykgraaf et al v Rodriguez , the Court of Appeal emphasised the significance of the undertaking in damages, particu- larly when the respondent ultimately succeeds and becomes eligible for damages. An affected party may equally apply to court for an order for the applicant to fortify such an undertaking, especially where sufficient evidence is produced to raise doubts about the applicant’s ability to satisfy that undertaking if called upon to do so. 6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief is often broadly worded. Freezing orders can be stated to apply to worldwide assets by the terms of such orders. 6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief orders are not only generally stated to apply to the respondent directly but also seek to enjoin the respondent from breaching the terms of the order by acting through third parties such as employ- ees, successors, agents and/or assignees. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non- Compliance Injunctions will generally include a “penal notice”, which warns persons on whom it is served that they may be liable to be committed to prison, to be fined or to have their assets seized if they fail to comply with the terms of that order, since they may be held in contempt of court. The court’s authority to pun- ish civil contempt is granted by Section 109 of the Senior Courts Act, 2022. The applicant has the bur- den to prove that a committal order is warranted and that there has been compliance with the procedural requirements to bring the application for committal.
A person may apply to the High Court, without notice, for an order permitting that person not to disclose the existence of a document on the ground that disclosure of the existence of the document would damage the public interest. 6. Injunctive Relief 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief Belize law provides for the granting of injunctive relief. These orders are discretionary and include injunc- tions of various types, such as prohibitory injunctions, mandatory injunctions, freezing orders and anti-suit injunctions. 6.2 Arrangements for Obtaining Urgent Injunctive Relief As mentioned in 4.7 Application/Motion Timeframe , in the case of applications for interim relief generally, Belize’s procedural rules provide for the hearing of applications on an urgent basis, including on a without notice basis. In appropriate circumstances, the hear- ing of urgent applications brought without notice is constrained only by the availability of the High Court. These applications have been known to be heard within as little as a day or two. 6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis Injunctive relief can be obtained without notice to the respondent in exceptional circumstances. It is for the applicant to assert and persuade the court that the case is appropriate for not giving the respondent notice of the application, such as in cases of extreme urgency. When seeking injunctive relief on an ex parte basis, the applicant has a duty of full and frank dis- closure. Under this duty, the applicant must fully and accurately disclose all material facts to the court. 6.4 Liability for Damages for the Applicant An applicant for injunctive relief is generally required to give an undertaking as to any damages that another party may suffer on account of any injunction obtained by them. That applicant should also demonstrate that they can make good on that undertaking if called upon
7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
Trials are a combination of leading evidence and pre- senting arguments, both of which are presented in a mix of oral and written forms. The evidence in interim applications is generally presented by affidavit. Expert evidence may be presented in the form of an expert’s
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