Cayman to open first specialist financial court
(Hedge Funds Review): The Cayman Islands will open a dedicated financial services division of Grand Court next month to adjudicate complex litigation involving financial companies, including those linked to hedge funds domiciled in Cayman. The court will hear cases involving investment funds, insurers and other financial services providers based in the Cayman Islands. This will include regulatory proceedings, insolvency cases and disputes on breach of contract, breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duty, including claims brought against service providers to investment funds.
Category: Business
Do you want to enforce a $10,000 foreign judgment? In England you file the papers and it is a rubber stamping. In Cayman you will need to shell out CI$15,000 and still need to go to Court.
The users of this Court pay for all the rest of the Court system by cross-subsidising on taxes charged under the guise of court fees – the Government charges a tax of $1750 to get 5 minutes in Court.
And who is going to pay for this?
"Cayman to open world’s first court where it costs US$20,000 to issue a writ. (other nations’ courts’ prices may vary dramatically)"
Spike
Spot on. How can a small creditor trying to get paid his due from one of the local construction companies get paid if he has to find CI$ 15,000 to file a petition? It is a joke. What the CJ, the AG and his empire have totally overlooked is that not every liquidation in Cayman is a billion dollar hedge fund. I seem to recall that some local guys took on Hurslstone Construction not to many years ago and got at least some money back from the liquidator. Now you are doomed as the court demands such a high fee. Does this happen in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the BVI, anywhere? NO.
This is no joke but still laughable.
Dem lights surely is going to be switched out soon. By dem, me gone.
This is a court for the financial services industry. Example, a offshore bank that is accused of scamming people in the U.S. – maybe a good example would be the recent case in Antigua, the Texas investor (millionaire/billionaire) Sir Allen Stanford.
Please show me in the law where this court is purely for offshore matters?
In any event you have missed the point; there are very small liquidations, where CI$15,000 is draconian. One cannot discriminate against the offshore entities. It is clear to everyone that ALL insolvency matters are coming before the new court.
I think you are the one who has missed the point here. I am not sure where any claim that it was purely off shore was made – the previous poster just gave an example.
As I understand it this is a specialist court for specialist cases, the standard courts on Cayman will surely still deal with the less complex cases not requiring specialist treatment?
Given how desperate the Court has been to extract fees in the last two years, expect cases to easily find themselves in the super expensive Court.
To give a better example. Since everything is "global," and Western countries are signing more tax treaties, so that people they Assume, Accuse of hiding assets, this is probably a way to VOID jurisdictional problems.
Example, I can have a Fund/Bank in Bahamas, but, I have investors from the U.S., people from the U.S. will have a hard time getting assets from a company in the Bahamas. People from the U.S. will have to use a Bahamian attorney due to jurisdiction.
Another example, ****I hate using this, but here goes, The Aruba case, the FBI could not get involved due to jurisdiction.
Now another, it is rumored that Bernie Madoff have property in Tobago – again, due to jurisdiction, there’s nothing the investors or U.S. officials can do about this.
November 1 is almost upon us and there is a great deal of confusion as to just what cases are going to be assigned. There is just no information out there and just who will define a complex case? Frequently a case develops into one of complexity. So are you saying that at that stage it gets transferred from one court to another? That makes no economic sense whatsoever.
There has been a considerable lack of planning in coming up with this court. For example I understand that all existing liquidation cases, complex or otherwise, will be transferred and each one expected to raise the new fee less the old one of $200. In other words $14,800. Some of these cases are about to end and others are without any monies at all. Whoever came up with this idea did not think it through. it is time for the courts to issue notices to clarify the situation, which is cofusing to say the least.
I don’t think this court will be hearing cases of small creditors against local construction companies. I think you’ve missed the point of the article. This type of court is needed in Cayman because rarely can you find a judge and jury that can follow the ins and outs of some of these complex financial arrangements. Its not a court for everyday stuff.
Okay, this sounds scary!
I guess Big Mac will be assigned the Post of Justice du Jeur!