Court Notices published in Govt. Gazette No. 20,847 of 28th April 2022

By order given by the Court of Appeal on 17 March 2022, in the records of Application No. 1208/2007 in the name of Competition of Creditors of Christopher Gauci vs X, the following publication was ordered to serve as notice to the respondents Christopher Gauci and Pietà Marina Limited in terms of Article 187 (3) et sequitur of Cap. 12.

By reply of the respondent Commissioner for Revenue (former Director General (Revenue)) to the application for retrial of the company Pietà Marina Limited (C28863) the said respondent the Commissioner for Revenue opposed the request contained in the application to have the judgment of the Honorable Court of Appeal decided on 23rd November, 2020, in the preceding names re-tried, after being annulled, since as the applicant is alleging the judgment was an effect of error as the said decision is based on the allegation that this Honorable Court of Appeal applied the law erroneously. The respondent Commissioner for Revenue opposes the request as it does not meet the requirements of section 811(e) of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure (Cap. 12). This is because the judgment de quo is not in breach of the law and deserves to be upheld.

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Whereas the law is explicit when it speaks of the privilege enjoyed by the exponent on the debtor's assets when the exponent demands the payment due under Act 318, in this case the company. This privilege emanates from the law through the phrase: 'notwithstanding the provisions of any other law' and supersedes what is set out in the Civil Code and any other law;

That is where the applicant is making a mistake in that he did not understand that in the case in question that he is examining with the application of Article 123 of Cap. 318 things have changed radically vis-à-vis Christopher Gauci. That applicant is mistaken in what is written in paragraph 5.1.4.8 of the application that the Court should have applied section 1094 et sequitur of Cap. 16 in the case under examination;

… omissis …

Whereas in the humble opinion of the respondent Commissioner legally and logically this Honorable Court could only apply the law as the legislator wanted. Gauci was a director and not just an employee of the company. It is crystal clear that Article 123 extends the privileged claim of the applicant referred to in Article 116 (3) over the personal assets of the debtor;

Whereas there is no doubt that Christopher Gauci as director of Price Club Operators Limited was considered an official of the same and therefore legally and logically the privilege mentioned in Article 116 (3) of Cap. 318 was triggered as well as on his personal assets in view of the judgments of our courts which found him personally liable for fraudulent trading and this liability is joint and several;

Whereas the respondent exponent respectfully requests that this Honorable Court for the above reasons confirms its judgment of 23rd November, 2020, in the names: Competition of Creditors vs Christopher Gauci vs X, Application number 1208/07 AE, because it is just and because it had properly applied the law and also because the reasons mentioned in paragraph (e) of Article 811 of Cap. 12 as stated in the applicants' retrial action for the judgment de quo to be retried do not exist.

Therefore, the applicant respectfully states that the applicant's claim Pietà Marina Limited for the retrial of the judgment of 23 November 2020 shall be dismissed because of what is stated above and the judgment of the Honorable Court of Appeal which in the deciding part of its judgment upheld the judgment under appeal and dismissed the appeal of Pietà Marina Limited be confirmed. With costs against the applicants.

Application number 1208/2007, in the names Competition of Creditors vs Christopher Gauci vs X, is adjourned for hearing on 9th June, 2022, at 11.40 a.m.

Notify Respondents: 1) Pietà Marina Limited, Forth Mansions, Block C11, Ta' Xbiex Seafront, Ta' Xbiex

2) Christopher Gauci, 37, Windsor Terrace, Flat 11, Triq Windsor, Tas-Sliema

Dr F. Bondin, LLD, M. Jur.

For the Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals