HSM LAW
HSM Celebrates Another Gold-Winning Year at Best of Cayman 2026
The HSM Group is proud to announce its outstanding success in the 2026 Best of Cayman Islands awards, achieving Gold medals across multiple categories: Law Firm Immigration Law Estate Law The Best of Cayman Islands is a vote-based competition that Read more +
HSM Welcomes Three Interns to 2026 Summer Internship Programme
68 Fort Street, Grand Cayman (27 July 2026): The HSM Group is proud to continue its summer internship programme with three young professionals: Dimitri Seymour (Corporate/Compliance), Diego McLaughlin (Intellectual Property) and Alicia Allen (Intellectual Property). HSM’s Summer Internship Programme commenced Read more +
Trump v Barbara: Why Birthright Citizenship Still Matters in Cayman
A U.S. case with a Cayman history behind it At first glance, Trump v Barbara looks like a purely American case. It concerns President Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship under the United States Fourteenth Amendment. Cayman does not have Read more +
Cayman Islands Immigration Update – June 2026: An Act of Unintended Consequences, New Work Permit Conditions and Statistics
When the Cayman Islands Government proposed changes to the Immigration Law, released last year, there was one change that stood out and that was the proposed changes to Section 64 of the Immigration (Transition) Act (2022 Revision). This was the Read more +
Cayman Islands Grand Court Reviews Law Governing Applications to Strike Out
Alexander Davies, HSM litigation attorney, applied on behalf of a defendant to proceedings, Butterfield Bank (Cayman) Limited, to strike out the plaintiff’s claim for want of prosecution. The claim for damages flows from a personal injury sustained when the plaintiff tripped on stairs on her employer’s premises in 2014. Proceedings were protectively issued in 2017. Following a protracted history, including an interlocutory appeal to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal heard in 2019, and several changes of attorneys by the plaintiff, the case had ground to a halt. The key issue had become the plaintiff’s claimed permanent disability due to chronic pain, and whether this was caused by the index injury. The defendant’s nominated expert in chronic pain, whom had examined the Plaintiff in 2018, was by January 2024 no longer available to give evidence due to having retired.
Giving judgment on the application, Hon. Asif J. K.C. found that the plaintiff had caused or contributed to inordinate and inexcusable delay in bringing her claim, which had resulted in genuine prejudice to the defendant, and the test for striking out the claim was therefore satisfied. Rather than striking out the entire claim, however, the learned Judge instead restricted the scope of the claim, debarring the plaintiff from pursuing a claim based upon the reported chronic pain and associated disability.
The judgment on 10 July 2024 provides a useful summary and review of the law pertaining to applications to strike out proceedings for want of prosecution in the Cayman Islands.