MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Chiara Frendo, Ganado Advocates
6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis See 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief . Ex parte injunctive relief is in fact obtained with- out the defendant being able to make submis- sions, although the application is served on the defendant. The corresponding protection for the defend- ant is the possibility to request the removal of injunctive relief on very limited grounds or, exceptionally, to seek countersecurity. This system ensures the effectiveness of injunctive relief, including the element of surprise, but also creates a balance in case of abusive recourse to injunctive relief. Admittedly, however, court judgments have unduly limited the availability of the countersecurity or the application for the removal of injunctive relief by interpreting very strictly the instances where such remedies may be available. 6.4 Liability for Damages for the Applicant Plaintiffs will be responsible for damages suf- fered by the defendant if it is shown that: • the proceedings were frivolous or vexatious; • the plaintiff sought more security than they were reasonably entitled to; or • the plaintiff fails to file an action on the merits within the set timeframe established by law following the grant of injunctive relief. In some instances, plaintiffs may need to provide security for such damages. 6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief Worldwide asset relief is not possible under Mal- tese law.
Documents that would damage the security, defence or international relations of Malta, or that would divulge information or matters com- municated in confidence by or on behalf of a foreign government, authority or international organisation, would also be considered privi- leged documents. Specific documents relating to the cabinet’s government are also considered privileged documents. Moreover, the courts have discretion to restrict the public nature of cases or of pieces of evi- dence in the interests of justice (such as court disclosure of banking documents or other con- fidential documents). There have been court decrees protecting docu- ments containing trade secrets or confidential information, but the circumstances will vary depending on case-specific facts or depending on whether specific legislation applies (for exam- ple, private enforcement proceedings issued under the Competition Act. 6. Injunctive Relief 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief The injunctive relief available in terms of Maltese civil procedural law are the acts referred to in 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions . 6.2 Arrangements for Obtaining Urgent Injunctive Relief In urgent circumstances, interim injunctions can be issued provisionally, and even on the same day of the request. Exceptionally, they are even issued out-of-hours, as is very common in the case of arrests of sea vessels and aircraft.
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