Paul Burton v The Representatives of the Estate of Adam Honeychurch - Ruling

¶ ```markdown # IN CHAMBERS # IN THE GRAND COURT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS ## CAUSE NO: 274 OF 2007 ### BETWEEN: **PAUL BURTON** Plaintiff -AND- **THE REPRESENTATIVE(S) OF THE ESTATE OF ADAM HONEYCHURCH, DECEASED** Defendant ### BEFORE: The Honourable Madam Justice Levers ### APPEARANCE: - Mr. K. Broadhurst of Broadhurst Barristers for the Plaintiff - Mr. D. Schofield on behalf of the Crown ### Date of Hearing: 24th October 2007 ## RULING Levers, J. This is an application by the Plaintiff, Paul Burton to obtain an order for the following relief: --- Page 1 of 6 ```
```markdown (1) That the Defendant's insurers, Motor & General Insurance Company Limited be appointed the Representative of the Estate of Adam Honeychurch (deceased) for the purposes of accepting service of the Writ of Summons in this Cause and defending the action, such Order being made pursuant to GCR Order 15 Rule 6A; (2) Alternatively, that the Solicitor General be appointed the Representative of the Estate of Adam Honeychurch (deceased) for the purposes of accepting service of the Writ of Summons in this Cause and defending the action such Order being made pursuant to GCR Order 15 Rule 6A; (3) Such further or other Orders or Directions as the Court deems fit; and (4) That the costs of this application be provided for. There was also another summons dated 6th September 2007 to extend the validity of the Writ for a further period of 4 months and that the costs of this application be provided for.

¶ [1] For convenience I shall deal with the latter summons first. Under GCR

¶ [2] Order 6 Rule 8, the Court has the jurisdiction to extend the validity of the

¶ [3] Writ and so orders that the validity of the Writ be extended as requested and

¶ [4] the costs of this application be costs in the Cause. The application as to the Defendant's insurance, Motor and General being appointed is really the substantive issue in this matter. A Writ of Summons was issued on 26th June 2007, as a result of motor car accident in which the Plaintiff alleges that the Defendant drove negligently and/or breach of statutory caused the Plaintiff to suffer loss and damage. Regrettably, the Defendant died in the accident. The Plaintiff therefore has sought to ascertain whether there are personal representatives in the island and has been unable to find any. As a result the Writ has not been served on the Defendant. Despite writing on several occasions to the insurers no response has been received, resulting in this application being made. The relevant aspect of re: The facts in this matter

¶ [1] There was a motor vehicle accident on 6th March 2005 wherein the vehicle driven by the Defendant crossed over to the Plaintiff's side of the road and collided with the Plaintiff's vehicle. The Plaintiff was seriously injured and the Defendant was killed too;

¶ [2] The Defendant was insured at the material time by Motor & General Insurance Company Limited;

¶ [3] The Defendant does not have any representatives in the Cayman Islands; and

¶ [4] The Plaintiff brought this proceeding on notice to the Insurers and has requested that they act in a representative capacity. To date the Insurers have failed to respond to the Plaintiff's claim or his letters. The Court can deal with the appointment of the Solicitor General very simply. I do not believe that the Solicitor General can do anything more at best than accepting service. We do not have the same provisions as the English; whereby a discretion to extend powers tan accepting service.
```html 1 However, the Court in this jurisdiction does have power to appoint a 2 personal representative under Order 15 Rule 6A (4) which reads as 3 follow: 5 “In any such action as is referred to in paragraph (1) or (3) - 7 (a) the plaintiff shall, during the period of validity for 8 service of the writ or originating summons, apply 9 to the Court for an order appointing a person 10 represent the deceased's estate for the purpose of 11 the proceedings or, if a grant of probate or 12 administration has been made, for an order that the 13 personal representative of the deceased be made 14 a party to the proceedings, and in either case of an 15 order that the proceedings be carried on against the 16 person appointed or, as the case may be, against 17 the personal representative, as if he had been 18 substituted for the estate; 20 (b) the Court may, at any stage of the proceedings and 21 on such terms as it thinks just and whether of its 22 own motion or on application, make any such 23 order as is mentioned in subparagraph (a) and 24 allow such amendments (if any) to be made and 25 make such other orders as the Court thinks 26 necessary in order to ensure that all matters in 27 dispute in the proceedings may be effectually and 28 completely determined and adjudicated upon.” In the light of the facts of this case, the Court has jurisdiction to make the order appointing the Insurers to represent the deceased's estate. ```
```html 1 for the purposes of these proceedings. I therefore allow paragraph (1) of the 2 Summons dated 8th October 2007, that the Defendant's insurance Motor & 3 General Insurance Company Limited be appointed as the representatives of 4 Adam Honeychurch, deceased for the purposes of accepting service in this 5 Cause and defending the action, such order being made pursuant to GCR 6 Order 15 Rule 6A. 7 8 That the costs of this application be costs in the Cause. 9 10 Dated this 29th day of October 2007 11 12 13 14 Judge of the Grand Court ``` ```latex \documentclass{article} \usepackage{geometry} \usepackage{graphicx} \usepackage{hyperref} \section{Court Order} \begin{enumerate} \item for the purposes of these proceedings. I therefore allow paragraph (1) of the \item Summons dated 8th October 2007, that the Defendant's insurance Motor \& General Insurance Company Limited be appointed as the representatives of \item Adam Honeychurch, deceased for the purposes of accepting service in this \item Cause and defending the action, such order being made pursuant to GCR \item Order 15 Rule 6A. \item \item That the costs of this application be costs in the Cause. \item \item Dated this 29th day of October 2007 \item \item \item \item \item Judge of the Grand Court \end{enumerate} \begin{figure}[h] \centering \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{court_stamp} \caption{Court Stamp} \end{figure}