Judicial Administration
Court Fees
Functionality for online payment of court fees will feature at a later stage in
the development of this website. While no government department is thought to accept
online payment currently, there are at least two departments which accept credit
card payments over the counter.
The Judicial Administration collects fines imposed by the court for traffic and
other offences as well as fees for court services. The Judicial Administration also
collects compensation and maintenance payments which, when received, are paid out
to third parties. The funds collected for payment to third parties are known as
Court Fund Payments. Accepting payments online is expected to reduce the work for
the cashiers and to improve customer service, while also offering the public greater
convenience. There would be a particular improvement in customer service where the
individual or law firm making payment is resident overseas.
There are various types of court fees, described below, for which payment will be
taken online. Each fee type would be listed within a database together with the
amount payable, which could either be a fixed dollar amount or a percentage.
Online payments will be made by debit or credit card. However, a limit will be put
on the amount that is payable by debit/credit card. Unless there is such a limit,
the debit/credit card transaction fee (which is a percentage of the amount paid)
would give rise to a situation where, beyond a certain amount, the price of the
payer’s convenience would be borne by the public purse rather than by the payer.
It may be decided, for instance, to limit credit card payments to a maximum value
of $1,000 per transaction, or impose a credit card payment surcharge. This limit
will be configurable by the website administrator.
In order to prevent users from circumventing the limit by paying amounts in excess
of the limit in more than one attempt, the system will allow partial online payments
up to the maximum only once.
Fees that are above the maximum accepted by debit/credit card could also be accepted
by electronic funds transfer, in addition to by cheque, thereby potentially reducing
the Administration’s banking fees and the amount of work for the cashiers. In order
to cater for such cases, the Administration’s bank account details would be published
on the site, together with instructions.
The website administrator will be able to edit the fee calculations for each type
of fee, and to add new fee types.
It will be possible for fees to be paid for a given user or case (using the user’s
identification particulars or case number), and for more than one type of fee to
be paid per user or per case (e.g. for an individual with more than one fine or
fee outstanding). Whereas each case is assigned a unique number which can be used
for identification purposes, the identification of users would require more than
one identifying particular, as there is no nationally unique identification (e.g.
Social Security Number, National Identification Number, etc.,) assigned to citizens
of the Cayman Islands. As there are many individuals with the same first name and
last name, date of birth, etc., users would have to be identified by more than one
variable. In addition to first name, middle initial and last name, users could also
be identified by any three (3) of the following:
- date of birth
- driver’s licence number
- occupational status
-
company
- vehicle registration number
- parking, speeding, or other ticket
number
- mother’s maiden name
- e-mail address
- street address
-
home telephone number.
Where the user is a corporate entity, some of the variables just mentioned would
not apply. The name of the entity would be used in place of first name, middle initial
and last name, and there would be no mother’s maiden name, etc. The applicable particulars
for corporate entities would be as follows:
- name
- street address
- corporate registration number
- Trade
& Business Licence number
- e-mail address
- office telephone number
-
vehicle registration number (where a company vehicle is involved)
- parking, speeding,
or other ticket number (where a company vehicle is involved)
Law firms making online payments would use their assigned log-on credentials.
In order to minimise the possibility of debit/credit card fraud, the name of cardholder
making an online payment would have to match with the name of the party on whose
behalf the payment was being made. The terms and conditions under which debit/credit
card payments are accepted would have to be such as to minimise the incidence of
payments being reversed by the debit/credit card provider (also known as charge-backs).
A penalty fee of say CI$50.00, in addition to the recovery of transaction costs,
would have to be imposed on online payers who used charge-backs to delay or avoid
meeting their payment obligations. This, of course, would be without prejudice to
any criminal sanctions that might flow from the payer’s action.
The system would provide a facility for the user to print a paper receipt for fees
paid online. The paper receipt would clearly indicate the purpose for which the
payment was made. For example, where the payment is for filing a document, the case
number and the description of the document would be stated. If a user did not have
the means to print a paper receipt, it would be possible to use the unique receipt
number assigned by the system to view the details related to the payment made by
the user.
Court Fees
Court fees are set out in the
Grand Court Fees Rules, which are published on this
web site. They fall into two broad categories, namely, ad-valorem fees and fixed
fees.
Ad-valorem fees
Ad-valorem fees are those which vary based on the capital or liquidated amount of
the judgment or transaction that they relate to. They currently range from a minimum
of CI$150.00 to a maximum of CI$10,550.00. It is proposed that these may be paid
online.
For each type of ad-valorem fee ( eg: those payable on claims for liquidated sums,
judgment for damages, and appeals against a money judgment), the website would display
the text of the rules from the current schedule of fees, together with any interpretation
that may be deemed useful. As there are often discrepancies between the amount of
ad-valorem fees as determined by the parties responsible for paying these fees and
those computed by the Finance Department of the Judicial Administration, the system
would have built-in formulas to enable users to compute the exact amount of ad-valorem
fees payable. The user would have the option of paying online the amount due in
full or in part.
Fixed fees
In contrast to ad-valorem fees described above, fixed fees do not vary according
to the value of the judgment. Fixed fees are a dollar amount rather than a percentage.
These fees are payable in respect of claims which are not for a capital or liquidated
amount but for other types of non-monetary remedies.
The website will provide the ability to pay a fixed fee of one of several different
types. The site will provide a drop-down box or similar from which the user could
select the type of fee to be paid. The system would then show the current fee and
a description of the fee’s applicability.
Where the fee is for filing a document or carrying out a search, the payment functionality
for these would be integrated within the overall process of
e-filing and searching
the court registry. It will also be possible to pay a fee online for the filing
of a document or making a search that is still carried out by visiting the court
registry in person. The database would contain a different fee for this, if necessary.
The fee for the issue of a plaint or summons would also be payable using the site.
Bailiff fees
The bailiff is the officer of the court who is responsible for serving subpoenas,
summonses, and other court documents as well as executing writs of
fieri facias (to give effect to the judgment) including writs of distraint.
Bailiff fees are paid to the court for the bailiff undertaking this service. These
fees are paid by which ever party to an action requires the service. The party requiring
the service pays the cashier who in turn stamps the relevant document to indicate
that the fee has been paid and forwards it to the Civil Registry, where it is processed
and entered for action by the bailiff. The bailiff checks with the Civil Registry
for matters entered for action in the “Bailiff Book,” and signs the book when he
takes the document for action. The bailiff fee payable varies by district, so the
amount payable for service in Bodden Town, for example, would be different from
the amount payable for service in East End. The actual amount payable is set out
in the Grand Court Fees Rules, which are published on this web site along with other
court fees. The party on whom the writ of fieri facias
is served by the bailiff is required to pay the amount in default as determined
by the court in addition to the bailiff’s fee. If the party concerned is either
unwilling or unable to pay the amount specified in the writ, the bailiff will distrain
on the assets of that party to recover the specified amount.
Payment of bailiff fees online will obviate the need for the party requiring the
service of the bailiff to go to the cashier to pay the fee. Instead, he/she could
go directly to the Civil Registry after having paid the fee on-line with the document
to be processed for action by the bailiff. In order to make the payment on-line,
the user would enter the case number and would then be prompted to select the district.
Thereupon, the appropriate fee would be displayed. The system would generate a receipt
for the user to present to the Civil Registry as proof of having paid. In processing
the document(s) for service, the Civil Registry clerk would also stamp the receipt
to indicate that it had been tendered in exchange for the required service. If the
user did not have the means to print his/her receipt, the unique receipt number
assigned by the system could be used to verify the payment.
Search fees
The e-filing section of the web site would require the user to pay the appropriate
fee when carrying out searches. Fees for searches that are carried out in person
at the court building may also optionally be paid online. However, the receipt generated
for such payments would indicate whether it was for a manual or online search. Receipts
issued for manual searches could not be used for online searches, and vice versa.
A receipt that is used to procure a manual search would have to be tendered at the
Civil Registry in exchange for the search, and would be stamped accordingly. In
the absence of a paper receipt, the registry clerk could use the unique identification
number for each receipt to obtain the user’s payment details from the system and
to ensure that receipts issued for online searches could be used only once.
Other Payments into Court
These may include payments for security for costs, payments of judgement sums or
partial awards of damages, or other payments in escrow into court to await final
determination. As such payments typically involve large lump sum amounts it is not
intended that they will be payable on line.