Cayman ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sam Dawson, Peter Sherwood and Denis Olarou, Carey Olsen
varied by the court. In practice, this is only like- ly to occur if the defendant re-engages in the proceedings and satisfies the court that setting aside or varying the judgment is appropriate. In general, the defendant’s failure to engage with the legal process will not prevent a plaintiff from obtaining relief. Such failure may, however, have consequences for the enforceability of any resulting judgment in other jurisdictions, but that is a matter of the local law of the relevant foreign jurisdiction. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions There is no formal class action process of the sort that is common in the USA. However, if a number of plaintiffs all wish to bring the same claim, a representative action by one plaintiff on behalf of the group is possible where all mem- bers of the group share a common interest and grievance (though there is currently no concept of a Group Litigation Order as envisaged under the English CPR 19). Orders made in such proceedings are binding on all members of the group. However, they can- not be enforced against non-parties, unless the court orders otherwise. 3.8 Requirements for Cost Estimate There is no requirement to provide clients with a cost estimate.
Examples of interim applications and orders that might be made include: • requests and orders for further and better particulars; • specific discovery applications; • interim injunctions; • freezing orders; • anti-suit injunctions; • summary judgments; • disposals of the case on a point of law; • striking out of pleadings; and • judgments in default of acknowledgement of service or defence. 4.2 Early Judgment Applications Summary Judgment Both the plaintiff and the defendant can apply for summary judgment on the other party’s case under the provisions of Order 14 of the Grand Court Rules. For the plaintiff, this can be a way of securing early final judgment on the merits. For the defendant, this can be a means of disposing quickly of a weak claim. The court must be satisfied that the claim or the defence has no real prospect of success and there is no other reason why the case should go to trial. The application may relate to the whole or only a particular part of the claim or defence, and in the latter case, if successful, that part will be struck out. In the case of an application by the claimant, it is possible to secure summary judgment on liabil- ity, with the claim for damages proceeding to trial. In the case of an application by the defend- ant, summary judgment may also be obtained if the court is satisfied that the plaintiff has no prospect of recovering more than nominal dam- ages.
4. Pre-trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
The courts have wide powers to make a vari- ety of interim orders and the parties often make a wide variety of interim applications. These include but are not restricted to case manage- ment issues.
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