Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1455666
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 FEBRUARY 2022 15 LAW COMMERCIAL IF a defendant to a court case fails to present a statement of defence within twenty days, the court may allow it to be present- ed only in exceptional circum- stances. This was held on 17 Febru- ary 2022 in Evelyn Farrugia et -v- Global Capital Financial Management Unit Limited. The judgement was delivered by the Court of Appeal, presided by Judges Giannino Caruana De- majo, Tonio Mallia and Antho- ny Ellul. The plaintiffs filed an action by means of a sworn applica- tion, wherein they explained that in 2008 they invested sums of money in Lifemark SA Secure Income Bond and until 2010 they were receiving interests on these investments. In 2010 the investments were not doing well and the plaintiffs discovered that the package of investments were intended for experienced investors due to the complexity on how the investments were distributed. The defendant company has de- scribed this investment as safe and secure. It turned out that the regulator in Luxemburg had engaged administrators to take over the management of Lifemark SA and in 2012, the company was being sold to re- fund the investors. The plain- tiffs were offered a minute sum as compensation compared to what they had invested and made considerable financial losses. The plaintiffs accused the defendant company of act- ing fraudulently because it did not explain the risks involved in these investments and gave the impression that they were safe. In order works they did not act diligently. The Plaintiffs felt that they were taken advantage of be- cause they told that the invest- ments were reliable. The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that the company acts incorrectly and not according to the Malta Financial Services Authority's guidelines. They al- so asked the court to order the company to pay compensation for their loss, The defendant company did not file a statement of defence and the Court upheld the Plain- tiffs' requests. The company filed an appeal on two grounds. The first being that it should have been allowed to file a statement of defence and the second is that the Court did not decide the merits of the case correctly. With regard to the first ground of appeal, the company explained that there was a tech- nical problem with the emails. The acts of the case was notified to a new employee of the com- pany, who immediately emailed the documents to the lawyer. It resulted that the email did not arrive to its destination. When the company officials spoke to the lawyer, they noticed that was a "delivery failure notifica- tion", which was not noticed. The First Court held that the email was copied to other com- pany officials. The notification failure message was only sent to the person who sent the email. The Court of Appeal held that according to caselaw the au- thorisation to file a statement of defence beyond the 20 day period is given in exception- al circumstances. This should never become a rule. The au- thorisation should be given if the failure to file the statement of defence was not voluntary or due to negligence. The justification must be ac- cepted by the Court and must include an legitimate imped- iment for not filing the state- ment of defence. This imped- iment must be independent from the will of the defendant and a gross error. The authori- sation may be given is there was a situation of impossibility. The evidence showed that the error was invincible. The acts of the case was notified on 20 October 2015. On the same day the company's employee sent the copies of the documents by email to the lawyer and marked it as "importance high". Imme- diately received an email that the email's size was too large. Therefore, the company should have noticed that the email was not sent. The email was copied to two other com- pany officials, and it was pre- sumed that they had received the email. The company should have also noticed that there was something wrong when their lawyers did not reply to the email. Nobody from the com- pany enquired with the lawyers nor asked for an update. The case is of the parties to the case and therefore, the defendant company should have adopted internal procedures to make sure that it follows up with the lawyers to make sure that the statement of defence is filed. Since the company did not this was a massive failing from its part. The employee explained that he thought that the reply to the case should have been filed a day before the first sitting, however, the court had noth- ing of this and the Court of Appeal commented that there was a notice on the acts of the case, specifically saying that the statement of defence should be filed within 20 days. The email in question also read "Please let me know how we should proceed with this". Therefore, once a reply was not received why did the company not follow up. It was only on 19 ta' November 2015, did the company find out that the law- yers never received the email. The Court therefore, turned down this ground of appeal. The Court turned down the ap- peal also on the merits of the case. Who fails to present statement of defence on time, may do so only in exceptional circumstances LAW REPORT MALCOLM MIFSUD Mifsud & Mifsud Advocates 4Sight Group becomes Odoo Gold Partner 4SIGHT Group Ltd, a Mal- ta-based multidisciplinary software firm leading digital transformation, has become the only Odoo Gold Partner in Malta, joining 250 Gold Part- ners globally. ODOO is a leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) solu- tion used in the small and middle-sized entrepreneurship (SME) customer space to man- age day-to-day business activ- ities. Considering that 4Sight has been an Odoo partner for less than three years, gaining the Gold Partner status is an im- pressive achievement. Odoo, which seamlessly integrates with any current business set- up and has more than 7 mil- lion users worldwide, has lately been adopted by larger firms, such as Toyota, Hyundai, and Danone. Odoo is fully compat- ible with Linux, Windows, iOS and Android. Maurizio Mamo, Chief Exec- utive Officer of 4Sight Group Ltd, said: "Our considerable experience in the industry has been a catalyst for our success in becoming a Gold Partner with Odoo. Furthermore, our strong relationships with cus- tomers, which helps us deliver customised solutions for them, has been an integral part of our success with Odoo. Our goal is to support companies in the challenges of digital transfor- mation by providing consulta- tive and strategic support both on practical and operational level." 4Sight Group analyses its cus- tomers' business to understand their needs so professionals can develop effective solutions that help reduce costs while in- creasing operational efficiency, revenues and customer satis- faction. Based out of Malta and Cy- prus, 4Sight Group provides a wide array of services in the in- formation technology and dig- ital sector. Established in 2007, 4Sight has supported companies in both the private and the public sectors locally and internation- ally.