MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Chiara Frendo, Ganado Advocates
2.4 Minimum and Maximum Amounts of Third-Party Funding Subject to 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding , there are no minimum and maximum amounts that a third party may fund. 2.5 Types of Costs Considered Under Third- Party Funding Subject to 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding , there is no restriction on the costs a third-party funder may consider funding; such costs may include the court registry costs of filing judicial documents, legal repre- sentation fees, and other court fees. 2.6 Contingency Fees Lawyers are ethically prohibited from entering into contingency fee and other conditional fee arrange- ments. 2.7 Time Limit for Obtaining Third-Party Funding Third-party funding can be sought at any point in the litigious process. There are no rules that impose certain pre-action con- duct that must be undertaken by parties prior to initi- ating litigation. However, it is customary for plaintiffs to send informal legal letters or formal judicial letters putting the defendants on notice of their respective claims. The latter type of letters are similar to pre- action letters, are formally filed through the court registry and served on potential defendants through court bailiffs or registered court mail, and also serve to interrupt the running of prescriptive periods/appli- cable statutes of limitation. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations Time limits for civil suits vary and are usually deter- mined by the nature and facts of each individual case and the nature of the claim. The default limitation period is 30 years, but there are a number of excep- tions, mainly: • five years for contractual claims; and 3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-Action Conduct
• two years for tort claims. Unless otherwise provided by a specific law, time lim- its start to run on the day the relevant action can be exercised. In addition to the general prescription periods high- lighted above, the law establishes shorter time peri- ods for specific actions or classes of actions, includ- ing the recovery of funds arising out of specific types of contracts. On the other hand, claims for fraud or breach of fiduciary obligations are not time barred. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant In the case of civil or commercial disputes against a defendant domiciled in a member state of the EU, the Courts of Justice in Malta would apply the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Par- liament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast). In the case of disputes where the defendant is not domiciled in an EU member state, national rules of jurisdiction are applied by Maltese courts. In this regard, the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure (Chapter 12 of the laws of Malta) provides that the civil courts of Malta shall have jurisdiction to try and deter- mine all actions concerning the following persons: • citizens of Malta, provided they have not fixed their domicile elsewhere; • any person as long as they are either domiciled, resident, or present in Malta; • any person, in matters relating to property situated or existing in Malta; • any person who has contracted any obligation in Malta, but only in regard to actions touching such obligation, and provided such person is present in Malta; • any person who, having contracted an obligation in some other country, has nevertheless agreed to carry out such obligation in Malta, or who has contracted any obligation that must necessarily be carried into effect in Malta, provided in either case that such person is present in Malta;
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