MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Chiara Frendo, Ganado Advocates
Apart from compensatory or monetary relief, declaratory and injunctive awards are also pos- sible at the full trial stage. With some notable exceptions, damages in Malta are restorative in nature and therefore generally no punitive dam- ages are granted. 9.2 Rules Regarding Damages Damages under Maltese law are restorative in nature, and therefore, are aimed at restoring the injured party to the position held prior to the damaging event. There is no punitive element in the quantification of damages. For damages to be awarded, there must be a direct causal link between the damaging event and the loss suffered by the plaintiff. The dam- aging event must be a result of the defendant’s conduct, and cannot be due to a force majeure or due to contributory negligence by the plaintiff or third party. In terms of contractual damages, the success- ful litigant is only entitled to damages that could have been foreseen at the time of the agreement. In personal injury claims, a specific formula is largely followed by the Maltese courts in cal- culating future losses, namely: yearly projected income multiplied by a multiplier based on the projected working life expectancy and further multiplied by the certified percentage disability. A cash deduction (using largely discounted cash flow) is then applied as a deduction. 9.3 Pre-judgment and Post-judgment Interest Generally, judgments given on civil pecuniary claims also include the award of interest at the rate of 8% simple interest per annum. In com- mercial matters, this runs from the date the debt was due, and therefore before the judgment
is entered. However, interest should only be imposed from the date of judgment where dam- ages are considered not to be liquid at the time the claim was brought and quantified during, and pursuant to, a court judgment. Commercial debts are also subject to default interest under Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions (recast) (Late Pay- ment Directive), as applied through the Maltese Commercial Code (Chapter 13 of the Laws of Malta). 9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment The court can give various orders for enforce- ment, including: • the issuance of warrants/executive acts, including some of the warrants mentioned in 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions . It is also possible to issue an executive warrant of seizure of an immovable property; and • judicial sale by auction to recover the pay- ment due, costs of the procedure and inter- est. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country In cases where a judgment delivered by the courts of another EU member state is being enforced in Malta, the procedure is regulated by Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012. In these cases, recognition is automatic, and enforcement can take place immediately with the filing of any executive measures. Enforcement measures will be served upon the judgment debtor, who will then have the opportunity to file an application before the First Hall of the Civil Court, raising any of the grounds of objection to the enforcement of the foreign judgment contained in the aforemen- tioned regulation. Any eventual judgment will be subject to appeal.
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