We are happy to share our firm’s success in an appeal brought before the Court of Appeal of Cyprus with a request to annul drastic interim freezing orders previously issued and rendered absolute by the District Court of Limassol against a Cyprus Investment Firm.

We were successful in asking the Court to apply its inherent powers to annul the interim orders without even assessing the substance of the grounds of our appeal, solely on the basis of procedural abuse on the part of the party who secured the orders.

In this particular case the party who obtained the interim orders failed to file a statement of claim for a period of 1 year and 8 months following the filing of the writ of summons under the previously applicable Civil Procedure Rules, having done so pending the appeal under consideration and following an application for dismissal of the action for want of prosecution.

The request was founded on the obligation of a party in whose favour an interim remedy is granted to act promptly and not act in abuse, nor use the interlocutory remedy for any improper purpose, leading to the deviation of the judicial process.

The Court of Appeal assessed this request first, whilst also noting the “apparent strength” of the grounds of appeal presented before it.

By reference to earlier case law of the Supreme Court of Cyprus, the Court of Appeal held that, indeed, the delay is such that it leaves no doubt that this case falls within the unacceptable practice of turning the interim relief granted into an end in itself.

It was held that even the continuation of the present proceedings and the assessment of the appeal on its merits would constitute an abuse of process and under the circumstances the Court found it appropriate to terminate the issued orders.

As a result, the interim orders were annulled in their entirety and our clients were awarded the costs of the appeal and the first-instance interim hearing.

The case was handled by Constantina Zantira, Partner.