BERMUDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Michael Hanson, Keith Robinson, Sam Stevens and Kyle Masters, Carey Olsen Bermuda Limited
6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief The court can grant injunctive relief against the worldwide assets of a respondent. The court can be persuaded to do so in circumstances where the defendant is within the jurisdiction and therefore subject to sanction should the order be breached. A party applying for a worldwide Mareva injunction must demonstrate (among other things) that there is a real risk of dissipa- tion of assets if the order is not granted. 6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief While the general rule is that injunctive relief can only be obtained against a party to an action, in principle, injunctive relief can be granted against third parties in certain limited circumstances, if, for example, there is evidence that a third party is threatening to aid and abet a contempt of court, or (in Mareva cases) where a third party is shown to be in possession/control of or dealing with the assets of a party already subject to a Mareva injunction. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non-compliance In addition to contempt of court, an injunction affixed with a penal notice notifying those upon whom it is served that a breach of the order will be the subject of sanction can be enforced by way of further order of the court, including the process of execution, compelling a non-compli- ant respondent to abide by its terms.
with the court and exchanged them with the other side. The plaintiff’s witnesses are usually tendered for cross-examination first followed by re-examination, with the witnesses for the defendant following thereafter. The written wit- ness statement of a witness is taken to be their evidence in chief. After the cross-examination of witnesses, the parties can then address the court on the law either in written submissions or orally, or both. 7.2 Case Management Hearings Case management hearings are normally very short and heard in chambers before a single judge. Oral argument is usually led by the appli- cant, supported by a skeleton argument where there are particular issues of law for considera- tion, followed by a response from the respond- ent and, finally, the applicant is entitled to a final opportunity to respond. The court is obliged to ensure that matters before it are conducted with reference to the overriding objective as set out in Order 1A/1 of the Rules (see 3.1 Rules on Pre-action Conduct ). The overriding objective is designed to ensure, as much as possible, that the court deals with the case justly. Preliminary applications on issues such as docu- ment discovery in complex commercial litigation, for example, can take the form of longer hear- ings. Such applications are typically supported by affidavit evidence and skeleton arguments
filed in advance of the hearing. 7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases
7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
Jury trials are still available in some civil cases but are very rare. For example, in claims for defamation, parties have the choice to proceed by way of trial by jury or before a single judge. When deciding whether or not a matter should
The adversarial process is the norm for the tri- al of a writ action. Witnesses for both parties attend on the scheduled day(s). The parties will have already filed written witness statements
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