GUERNSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Elaine Gray and Steven Balmer, Carey Olsen
6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis An applicant may apply on an ex parte or on notice basis. Where an application is brought ex parte, it is incumbent on the applicant to pro- vide full and frank disclosure of all material facts and matters to the court prior to the application being determined, including those which may adversely affect the applicant’s prospects. 6.4 Liability for Damages for the Applicant An applicant may be held liable in damages to the respondent if an injunction is later dis- charged. To address that risk, the applicant will generally be required to provide an undertaking in damages as a condition of an injunction being granted, to cover any damages that may be pay- able in the event the applicant is not ultimately found to have been entitled to the relief that was granted on an interim basis. The Guernsey court may also order the applicant to provide security for such damages in the form of paying a specified sum into court to protect the respondent (or a third party’s) interests. 6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief While the Royal Court has jurisdiction, in prin- ciple, to grant a worldwide freezing order, such orders are rare in the extreme. Such an appli- cation, in addition to satisfying the usual tests, will necessitate cogent evidence that there are no assets (or insufficient assets) located within the jurisdiction. More often, the Guernsey court will be asked to grant an injunction ancillary to a worldwide freezing order granted in a foreign court.
6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief The court may make an order requiring service on a third party and requiring disclosure/freez- ing steps to be taken by a third party. Beyond this, it is unlikely that the court would grant an injunction against a third party in the absence of cogent evidence of that third party’s involvement in the circumstances such that they are a neces- sary and proper party to the injunction. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non-compliance A failure to comply with an injunctive order will generally constitute contempt of court. If a con- tempt is established, this may result in a variety of sanctions, most commonly a fine or poten- tially the striking out of a defence or claim, with the ultimate sanction being imprisonment for contempt of court, although there are no modern examples of this occurring. Trials are generally undertaken in person, with oral submissions and evidence from lay and expert witnesses. Guernsey has a system of professional jurors called jurats who sit to deter- mine questions of fact, unless the parties agree or the court determines that the matter should be heard by a judge sitting alone. 7.2 Case Management Hearings Interlocutory applications are generally deter- mined at the routine court sitting on Friday mornings, unless an application is listed before a particular judge or where the application is anticipated to be longer than an hour or so. Applications are generally resolved after oral argument, often coupled with written submis- 7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
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