MONACO Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephan Pastor, Emeline Elbaz-Mondeux, Daniel Goldenbaum and Xavier Widawski, CMS Monaco
6.4 Liability for Damages for the Applicant
defendant’s lawyer informs the court that they represent the defendant, and a new hearing is scheduled by the judge for the defendant to file their written pleadings in response. The parties may exchange a few written plead- ings until the judge sets a date for oral pleadings. 7.2 Case Management Hearings See 7.1 Trial Proceedings . 7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases Jury trials are not available in civil cases. 7.4 Rules That Govern Admission of Evidence The filed evidence must have been obtained fairly and be communicated to the court and all the parties involved in the proceedings. If in a foreign language, it must be accompanied by a French translation. 7.5 Expert Testimony The court can seek expert testimony upon request from a party or on its own initiative. 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public In principle, hearings are open to the public (see 1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings for the exceptions). However, transcripts of hearings remain confidential unless requested by a lawyer representing a party involved in the proceedings. 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge The judge sets the calendar, and ensures that no party uses delaying tactics and that the debates are led respectfully. At the pleadings hearing, they may ask some questions for further clarifi- cation, though Monegasque judges do not typi- cally intervene much.
In principle, there is no liability for damages for having initiated a lawsuit, except in the case of abuse of procedure. If a seizure is subsequently withdrawn, the appli- cant may be required to pay a proportional fee corresponding to a percentage of the seizure (from 4% as the lowest amount to 0.4% for sums above EUR23,000). In any case, there is no requirement to provide any security. 6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief In theory, injunctive relief cannot be granted against worldwide assets of the respondent. However, worldwide movable assets can be seized if located in Monaco (eg, yachts or cars). 6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief Nothing prohibits the issuance of injunctive relief against a third party. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non-compliance The applicant mandates a bailiff to execute the injunction. There are no sanctions such as for contempt of court. However, in the specific case of a freezing order, the seized third party (eg, a bank) is bound to make various statements to the claimant, and, on failing to do so, could be held liable for the principal.
7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
First, a summons is served to the adversary by a Monegasque bailiff. Then, at the first hearing, the
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