MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Chiara Frendo, Ganado Advocates
3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-action Conduct
European Union, the Courts of Justice in Malta would apply the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judge- ments in civil and commercial matters (recast). In the case of disputes where the defendant is not domiciled in a European Union member state, national rules of jurisdiction are applied by Maltese courts. In this regard, the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure (Chapter 12 of the Laws of Malta) provides that the civil courts of Malta shall have jurisdiction to try and deter- mine all actions concerning the following per- sons: • citizens of Malta, provided they have not fixed their domicile elsewhere; • any person as long as they are either domi- ciled, resident or present in Malta; • any person, in matters relating to property situated or existing in Malta; • any person who has contracted any obliga- tion in Malta, but only in regard to actions touching such obligation, and provided such person is present in Malta; • any person who, having contracted an obliga- tion in some other country, has nevertheless agreed to carry out such obligation in Malta, or who has contracted any obligation that must necessarily be carried into effect in Malta, provided in either case that such per- son is present in Malta; • any person, in regard to any obligation contracted in favour of a citizen or resident of Malta, or of a body having a distinct legal personality or association of persons incor- porated or operating in Malta, if the judgment can be enforced in Malta; and
There are no rules that impose certain pre-action conduct that must be undertaken by parties pri- or to initiating litigation. However, it is custom- ary for plaintiffs to send informal legal letters or formal judicial letters putting the defendants on notice of their respective claims. The latter type of letters are similar to pre-action letters, are for- mally filed through the court registry and served on potential defendants through court bailiffs or registered court mail, and also serve to interrupt the running of prescriptive periods/applicable statutes of limitation. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations Time limits for civil suits vary and are usually determined by the nature and facts of each individual case and the nature of the claim. The default limitation period is 30 years, but this suf- fers a number of exceptions, mainly: • five years for contractual claims; and • two years for tort claims. Unless otherwise provided by a specific law, time limits start to run on the day the relevant action can be exercised. In addition to the general prescription periods highlighted above, the law establishes shorter time periods for specific actions or classes of actions, including the recovery of funds arising out of specific types of contracts. On the other hand, claims for fraud or breach of fiduciary obli- gations are not time barred. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant In the case of civil or commercial disputes against a defendant domiciled in a member state of the
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