BELIZE Law and Practice Contributed by: Nigel Ebanks and Darinka Muñoz, Barrow and Williams LLP
• whenever the use of a fixed date claim form is required by a rule or practice direction; and • where proceedings are required to be com- menced by originating summons or motion. In certain cases, a supporting affidavit may accompany the fixed date claim form. Support- ing affidavits would generally serve the same purpose as a statement of claim, except that they constitute sworn evidence supporting the claim upon its commencement and within the stage of pleadings. Although it includes a state- ment of truth by which a litigant certifies the truth of its contents, a statement of claim is a form of pleading, not sworn evidence. Where a claimant uses a supporting affidavit, a defendant may likewise initially respond to the claim with their own evidence in the form of an affidavit in response. This procedure of using affidavits at the stage of commencing a claim is useful, and is most common in administrative law and judicial review claims, for example. Belize’s Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules permit parties to amend their pleadings without the court’s permission at any time before the first case management conference; a party wishing to amend after that point can only do so with the court’s permission. Generally, the party must promptly apply to court demonstrating that there has been a sufficient change of circumstances since the first case management conference to justify the court’s granting of its permission. 3.5 Rules of Service An opposing party is generally served a court process through personal service. In the High Court, the service of a court process is the responsibility of a litigant, not the court. Service may also be effected by substituted methods, where the court gives permission to do so, by
publication in a newspaper of sufficiently wide circulation, for example. The court will normally give such permission where a litigant proves that it is impracticable to accomplish personal ser- vice. In the case of Claim No 414 of 2021 Lock- wood v Christian, the High Court ruled that the claimant must prove that publication in a widely circulated newspaper is adequate to inform the defendant about the claim and understand its contents, in order for substituted service to be effective. Since 19 August 2020, court documents may be served by email. The exceptions to email service are statements of case and applications for the sale of land, as per the Supreme Court of Judi- cature of Belize COVID-19 Directions, 2020. 3.6 Failure to Respond A claimant may obtain a judgment in default against a defendant who fails to either acknowl- edge service of a claim in a timely manner or file and serve a defence. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions Belize law permits representative actions. The court may appoint one or more persons or a body to represent five or more persons having the same or a similar interest in the proceed- ings. A representative may be appointed to act on behalf of either claimants or defendants. Where the court appoints a representative, an order of the court binds everyone represented by that party. Such order may not, however, be enforced against a person who is not a party to the pro- ceedings, unless the person wishing to enforce it obtains permission from the court. This facility for the representation of others in proceedings extends to the representation of persons who cannot be ascertained, including those yet to be
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