BELIZE Law and Practice Contributed by: Nigel Ebanks and Darinka Muñoz, Barrow and Williams LLP
10.6 Powers of the Appellate Court After an Appeal Hearing After hearing an appeal, the Court of Appeal has several options. It may, for example, quash the decision of the lower court and either order a retrial of the matter or substitute its own finding for that of the lower court. 11. Costs 11.1 Responsibility for Paying the Costs of Litigation As between attorney and client, a client will be responsible to pay their attorney’s charges for handling litigation on the client’s behalf. As between party and party, a court may make an order as to which party is to pay the costs of court proceedings. The general rule is that costs follow the event, so an unsuccessful party will generally be ordered to pay the successful party’s costs. 11.2 Factors Considered When Awarding Costs Generally, costs are awarded to a successful party. In awarding costs, the court must con- sider a party’s: • conduct before and during the proceedings; • success on particular issues, even if the party has not succeeded in the entire proceedings; • reasonableness in pursuing particular allega- tions; • reasonableness in raising particular issues; and • conduct in pursuit of the case, allegation or issue. A court may order that the amount of costs is based on the amount prescribed by Belize’s pro- cedural rules. Alternatively, a court may order
• it may be more convenient to determine the point at or after the trial – in all such cases, leave to appeal should be refused. Where permission is required, the intended appellant applies first to the High Court (being the trial court or court of first instance). If the High Court refuses that application for permis- sion, the intended appellant may then apply directly to the Court of Appeal for permission. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal A party appeals a decision of the High Court by filing and serving a Notice of Appeal. They must do so within 21 days of the date of perfection of the court order being appealed. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal Appeals are mostly confined to considering matters of law. Appellate courts will generally defer to the decisions of lower courts on mat- ters of fact and matters concerning the exercise of a discretionary power by a trial judge, except where those decisions or orders are demonstra- bly “aberrant”. Appeals under Belize’s appellate system would be most fairly classified as exer- cises of review, not rehearing. 10.5 Court-Imposed Conditions on Granting an Appeal The court has the power to make various orders on granting an appeal. These include powers to confirm, vary, amend or set aside the order or make any such order as the High Court might have made, or to make any order which ought to have been made, and to make such further or other orders as the case may require. The court may make any order on such terms as it thinks just to ensure the determination on the merits of the real question in controversy between the parties.
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