General Condition of Courts
The Magistrates Courts sustained some damage during the Hurricane. The High Court was seriously damaged. The Commercial Court sustained little damage but this has exacerbated previous damage caused by the flood in early August. The flood related repairs were still pending, so the Commercial Court is not yet fit for use.
Filing of Documents
A press release was issued advising that e-filing for commercial matters is to be done via St Lucia (see here). Practitioners should note that the usual timelines for filings remain in effect - existing practice directions are to be followed. The attached Guidelines for e-filing should also be consulted.
A record should be kept regarding e-filings so that payment can be effected at a later date. Physical filing of documents should be avoided. The Registry is considering setting up a printer in St Lucia to assist the judges, who prefer to review paper documents.
Hearings
The Registry will provide further information in the coming week on the court lists for criminal matters and civil matters and where and when matters will be heard. Note that criminal matters will be prioritised.
Relocation
The Registry has limited use of office space at the Ritter House but it is hoped that the Sakal Building will soon be operational as the Ritter House office is not open to practitioners or the general public. The Registry will provide information on location and hours of operation early next week.
Registry Services
High Court Searches
Searches will be available electronically, it is hoped, by Wednesday, 20 September 2017. This is however dependent on whether the government servers will be fully operational.
Apostilling
Apostille services will definitely resume early next week – hopefully by Tuesday. The , 19 September 2017. Hours of operation will be communicated by the Registrar.
Probate
Probate services will also resume during the week starting 18 September 2017.
Matter Update
The Registrar intends to issue a request to all firms to provide a status update on each ongoing matter. The Registrar will then use this to prioritise matters for hearing. Firms will be asked to respond within 7 days to avoid any further delays. This applies only to those matters that have a hearing listed up to December 2017. Please use every effort to cooperate with opposing counsel to ensure that matters are given their appropriate priority.
1.This Guideline Document reflects instructions for the e-filing of documents in the Commercial Court of the Territory of the Virgin Islands in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
2. Each Law Firm/Legal Practitioner must establish an Escrow Account with the Accounts Department of the ECSC Headquarters against which drawdowns will be made for filings.
3. The Escrow Account should be maintained by making wire transfers to the Court’s
Headquarters. The Wire Transfer information is as follows
4. Filings will be by email to bvicommercial@eccourts.org
5. Each filing must be accompanied by a completed E-Filing Application Header Form
(available on www.eccourts.org)
6. Documents filed must be in Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF)
7. Documents must not be over 5 MB in size
8. When a document is successfully filed the person filing will receive a notification to
that effect
9. If the document submitted for filing does not comply with the relevant court rules,
in terms of their formal requirements, an email will be sent to the person filing to
rectify the document and then refiled
10. Law Firms /Legal Practitioners must ensure that there are sufficient funds in the
Escrow Account to facilitate the filings
11. If an account does not have sufficient funds to facilitate a filing an email will be sent
to the account holder expressing the need to increase the funds held in escrow
12. Documents filed must comply with the relevant Court rules and practice directions
The documents for filing must:
i. contain a header with the full title of the proceedings
ii. contain a header with the title of the document
iii. reflect the name, business address, reference (if any), telephone number and fax number (if any) of the filer
iv. be dated
v. be signed by the person filing it (if not an affidavit)
vi. be signed by the person who deposes (if an affidavit)
vii. state the name of the party on whose behalf it is filed
viii. state the full name of signatory legibly below the signature
ix. have the order or judgment being appealed attached
x. be properly indexed and paginated (if it is a record or bundle of documents being
filed)
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