CAYMAN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Guy Manning, Harry Shaw and Shaun Tracey, Campbells
provides that an application for the appointment of a receiver may be made by summons or motion, and it may be made in conjunction with an application for an injunction. If any such application for an injunction is made ex parte, the court may grant the relief sought, pend - ing a return date hearing. GCR Order 30 rules 2 to 6 provide, in summary, that a receiver may be required to give security, that they will be allowed such proper remuneration as may be authorised by the court, that service of the order or judgment appointing the receiv - er must be made on the receiver and all other parties, that the receiver will submit accounts to the court, and that the court may fix the amounts and frequency of payments to court to be made by the receiver. Sequestration and committal for contempt Since enforcement via sequestration and/or committal for contempt is very rare, the detailed procedures are beyond the scope of this chapter. 2.3 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Domestic Judgments The costs and time taken to enforce a domestic judg - ment will depend on factors such as the complexity of the case, the nature of the assets against which enforcement is sought, and the degree of resistance from the judgment debtor (see 2.6 Unenforceable Domestic Judgments ). A simple enforcement action in respect of a money judgment against a natural person might be com - pleted within a matter of weeks at minimal expense, typically via a charging order and/or an attachment of earnings or garnishee order. However, the enforcement of a high-value judgment in a complex commercial case may be time-consuming and expensive. For instance, any application for the appointment of a receiver may be strongly opposed, resulting in detailed legal arguments and one or more hearings. Assets may need to be frozen to avoid them being dissipated before enforcement is complete. Such enforcement actions may only be worthwhile where the amounts involved are large and there are reasonable prospects of making recoveries. A prudent litigant will have considered enforcement at an early
stage and will have an enforcement strategy to ensure any judgment in its favour will be enforceable.
2.4 Post-Judgment Procedures for Determining Defendants’ Assets
Where the judgment creditor has obtained a money judgment, they may apply for an order requiring the judgment debtor (or, if the debtor is a company, an officer of the company) to attend before a judge and be orally examined under oath as to their debts and means of satisfying the judgment debt. The court may also order the judgment debtor or officer to produce relevant books or documents at the examination. Pro - cedurally, an application for examination of a judg - ment debtor must be supported by an affidavit giving certain particulars, and any such order must be served personally on the judgment debtor or officer of a com - pany ordered to attend for examination. Following the examination, the judge must certify a written record of the judgment debtor’s testimony. 2.5 Challenging Enforcement of Domestic Judgments A Cayman Islands court will not consider whether the proceedings in which the judgment was given were validly served on the judgment debtor unless that issue is specifically raised. The ability of a debtor to challenge the enforcement of a domestic judgment depends on the nature of the enforcement method and the circumstances of the case. The court has the power to stay a writ of fieri facias where the judgment debtor or any other party liable to execution upon a money order establishes, upon making an application, that there are special circum - stances why the judgment should not be enforced or the applicant is unable to pay the money. Certain complex methods of enforcement involve the judgment debtor having a degree of latitude in chal - lenging the enforcement. Equitable execution (via the appointment of a receiver) is rarely straightforward since it involves the exercise of the court’s discre - tion. For instance, the court has declined to appoint a receiver over a bankrupt’s assets in favour of a single
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