INTREKKEN KORT GEDING
Toch een proceskostenveroordeling?
Het gebeurt geregeld dat een kort geding voor de behandeling of voordat vonnis wordt gewezen wordt ingetrokken. Meestal gebeurt dat omdat de gedaagde partij vrijwillig aan de gevraagde veroordeling heeft voldaan of omdat partijen een schikking hebben getroffen. De vraag is hoe het nu zit met de proceskostenveroordeling. De gedaagde partij kan immers van oordeel zijn dat het kort geding ten onrechte is aangespannen. Kan hij de rechter vragen zich alleen daarover uit te laten? Zo ja, dan zal de rechter zich ook over de inhoud van het geschil een oordeel moeten vormen.
Op 3 juni 2016 …
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ADVOCATENTUCHTRECHT
Enkele recente uitspraken
De Raad van Toezicht op de advocatuur in Curaçao, de tuchtrechter in eerste aanleg, heeft op 20 mei 2016 uitspraak in diverse zaken gedaan. Enkele overwegingen zijn interessant om hier te delen.
Een (voormalige) cliënt dient een klacht in tegen een advocaat, omdat de advocaat heeft geweigerd een procedure inzake schadevergoeding te beginnen. Een advocaat is, zo overweegt de Raad, niet verplicht om de opdracht van een cliënt om een zaak te beginnen uit te voeren (RvT 76829 – K). Als een advocaat van mening is dat een zaak geen kans van slagen heeft, moet hij dat …
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TYPES OF LIABILITY IN ARUBA
A three-part distinction
With regard to liability a three-part distinction can be made. The first distinction relates to the basis of the liability: liability pursuant to a contractual relationship (the attributable failure in this respect) and liability pursuant to a wrongful act.
Another distinction relates to the personal liability (thus for the party’s own actions or omissions) and vicarious and/or strict liability: liability for or the acts and omissions of others (vicarious liability) or liability for certain things that happen (strict liability).
For example, employers can be held vicariously liable for certain actions of their employees. According to the Aruba …
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FEITELIJK LEIDINGGEVEN
Feitelijk leidinggeven aan een door een rechtspersoon begaan strafbaar feit
De Hoge Raad (ECLI:NL:HR:2016:733) heeft vandaag een belangrijke uitspraak gedaan wat betreft de strafrechtelijke aansprakelijkheid van degene die feitelijk leiding heeft gegeven aan een door een rechtspersoon gepleegd strafbaar feit.
3.1.1. In deze zaak staat in enkele middelen het feitelijke leidinggeven aan een door een rechtspersoon begaan strafbaar feit centraal. Dat gecompliceerde thema is in recente rechtspraak weinig aan bod gekomen. De Hoge Raad zal daarom hierna, mede aan de hand van zijn eerdere rechtspraak, enkele opmerkingen maken over de strafrechtelijke aansprakelijkheid voor het “feitelijke leidinggeven” aan een door een rechtspersoon …
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CHAMBERS GLOBAL 2016 LEGAL RANKINGS RELEASED
Karel Frielink ranked Band 1 again
Once again I have been selected as a ranked lawyer in Chambers Global 2016 identifying me as one of the best lawyers in the Dutch Caribbean (click here).
The Chambers Guides have been ranking the best law firms and lawyers since 1990, and now cover 185 jurisdictions throughout the world. Chambers ranks lawyers and law firms on several factors and considerations, all of which are investigated by their large team of more than 140 researchers. Today, Chambers and Partners released the 2016 edition, also covering the Dutch Caribbean.
Individual lawyers are …
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$1.3 BILLION SETTLEMENT OF FORTIS INVESTOR ACTIONS
Interesting post by Kevin LaCroix (The D&O Diary)
“In what is by far the largest investor settlement ever under the Dutch collective settlement procedures, several shareholder foundations have reached an agreement to settle the Fortis shareholder claims for a total of €1.204 billion ($1.3 billion).
The shareholder foundations’ settlement with Ageas, as Fortis is now known, relates to Fortis’s ill-fated October 2007 participation in the ABN AMRO acquisition just before the global financial crisis. Under a parallel settlement, €290 million ($313 million) of the shareholder settlement will be funded by Fortis’s D&O insurers. The shareholder settlement is subject to the …
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PRELIMINARY RELIEF PROCEEDINGS
When a case needs an urgent decision
The procedure for provisional measures in summary proceedings (kort geding), a.k.a. preliminary relief proceedings or interlocutory proceedings, is an interim injunction procedure before the court. Such proceedings, under Dutch Caribbean law, are aimed at obtaining temporary instructions from the court, not at receiving a final decision in the case.
These proceedings are characterized by their more or less summary character and their relatively quick nature. There is a clear relationship to a procedure on the merits, which always may be instituted and sometimes even must be followed. Provisional measures that are prescribed in …
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THE BINDING EFFECT OF JUDGMENTS
Limited to the parties involved in the proceedings
Court decisions, even decisions by the Dutch Supreme Court, are not binding on courts when deciding future cases. However, the Code of Civil Procedure prevents parties from litigating twice on the same legal issue. The principle that a final judgment of a competent court is conclusive upon the parties in any subsequent litigation involving the same cause of action is known as ‘res judicata ’.
A Dutch court case is described below illustrating this principle: Utrecht District Court of 19 March 2009 (NJF 2009/291).
In initial litigation, the claimant had sought payment …
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BRIBERY
A criminal act
With regard to anti-corruption the Criminal Codes of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the BES-islands include criminal acts such as fraud, bribery and abuse of authorities. The bribery offence closely resembles the bribery provisions under the Dutch Criminal Code. The Codes also stipulate regulations on criminal acts committed by judges, ministers, members of Parliament and civil servants. Amendments were introduced to the Criminal Code specifically to implement the Anti-Bribery Convention. The bribery offences in the Criminal Codes mirror very closely those in the Dutch Criminal Code.
The relevant anti-bribery provisions are integrated in the Dutch Caribbean Criminal …
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TRADE-BASED MONEY LAUNDERING
More Trade Transparency Units Needed
Smuggling and trade fraud are on the rise, according to Viêt Nam News (27 October 2015). The Telegraph reports that the authorities in China have arrested 21 people on suspicion of defrauding almost one million Chinese investors of 50bn yuan (£5.3 billion) after an online peer-to-peer lender turned out to be a giant Ponzi scheme (1 February 2016). Money laundering and fraud seem to be on the increase. Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML) is one of the big threats facing us today.
According to Premium Times (21 December 2015; Read the rest »
CONSOLIDATED BANKRUPTCY
Creditors, stay alert!
Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the BES-islands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) will together be referred to as the Dutch Caribbean, although each has its own set of laws.
Bankruptcy in general serves the purpose of liquidating assets of a particular person or legal entity and distributing the proceeds among the combined creditors. Sometimes, several companies belonging to one and the same group of companies go bankrupt. In principle, the trustee in bankruptcy has to administer and liquidate the assets of each of the bankrupt estates individually.
When multiple companies of the same group go bankrupt, it …
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INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
The UNCITRAL Model Law is applicable
Parties with a legal dispute can turn to the public court system to settle the dispute; however, instead of bringing a lawsuit in a public court, they can also opt for arbitration. Arbitration is a form of private dispute settlement in which the parties instruct one or more persons (arbitrators) to render a binding decision on their dispute. The arbitrators may be jurists, but they can also be laypersons. People with specific expertise or experience in a certain branch or industry are often chosen as arbitrator.
Parties can include a so-called arbitration clause in …
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