Cayman courts to allow US witness depositions

(CNS): According to a specialist legal website as a result of decisions made in the Cayman Islands courts in appropriate circumstances, domestic and foreign depositions will be permitted to assist trial preparation. International Law Office reports that most common law jurisdictions have been hostile to permitting depositions of future witnesses, even in circumstances in which the law of the jurisdiction in which the witness was resident permits such depositions. This has largely been on the basis that such depositions would constitute unwarranted double cross-examination. However, in Phoenix Meridian Equity Limited v Lyxor Asset Management SA the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal confirmed the Grand Court’s refusal of an anti-suit sought by the defendant to restrain Section 1782 depositions of future witnesses.