Cayman ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sam Dawson, Peter Sherwood and Denis Olarou, Carey Olsen
9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant The plaintiff specifies the relief it seeks in its writ and statement of claim. Following a full trial, the court may award a variety of relief, ranging from damages to a final injunction or an order for specific performance. Declaratory rulings may also be issued. Equitable remedies of rescission and rectification are also available. Account of profits, restitutionary remedies, and proprietary remedies (including any necessary tracing) are also available. In the context of insolvency litigation, winding- up orders are available and, where the petition is presented by contributories on a just and equita- ble basis, also a variety of alternative remedies, such as a buy-out of shares or directions as to the future conduct of the company’s affairs. 9.2 Rules Regarding Damages In general, the approach to damages is compen- satory rather than punitive. In principle, aggra- vated or exemplary damages might be available, for example in certain patent or tort claims, but this is rare. There is no statutory limit on dam- ages. 9.3 Pre-judgment and Post-judgment Interest Interest may be awarded both before and after judgment pursuant to Section 34 of the Judi- cature Act (2021 Revision) and the Judgment Debts (Rates of Interest) Rules (as revised from time to time). The applicable rates of interest vary depending on the currency of the judgment debt.
and resulted in a judgment running to over 1,000 pages.
8. Settlement 8.1 Court Approval
Except in the context of insolvency proceedings (where liquidators sometimes require court sanc- tion for settlement), or in cases where one of the parties is not of full capacity, court approval is not needed to settle a lawsuit. 8.2 Settlement of Lawsuits and Confidentiality There is no difficulty with keeping the terms of the settlement confidential. Keeping the fact of the settlement confidential could be difficult if, as is usually the case, one of the parties wishes to have an order dismissing proceedings entered on the court file. Such an order would usually be publicly accessible. 8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements As a matter of Cayman Islands law, settlement agreements are contracts like any other and are enforced accordingly. To the extent the parties might have chosen to embody the terms of settlement in a court order, they can be enforced in the same way as any other order of the court. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements As with any other contract, a party seeking to set aside a settlement agreement will need to seek this relief on one of the usual bases on which contracts can be avoided or declared void, such as misrepresentation, mistake, illegality, duress or other applicable doctrine.
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