BELIZE Law and Practice Contributed by: Nigel Ebanks and Darinka Muñoz, Barrow and Williams LLP
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 appli- cant has a duty of full and frank disclosure. 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 dam- ages 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 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, particularly when the respondent ultimately suc- ceeds 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 evi- dence 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. Freez- ing 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 breach- ing the terms of the order by acting through third parties such as employees, 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 punish civil contempt is granted by Section 109 of the Senior Courts Act, 2022. The applicant has the burden to prove that a com- mittal order is warranted and that there has been compliance with the procedural requirements to bring the application for committal. Trials are a combination of leading evidence and presenting arguments, both of which are pre- sented 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 report; an expert may also produce a witness statement in proceedings. Cross-examination of witnesses is common, but is less common in matters such as judicial review or the hearing of many interim applications. As noted in 1.3 Court Filings and Proceed- ings , trials are primarily conducted in person. 7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
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