PIERCING THE CORPORATE VEIL IN ARUBA
Ignoring the legal personality of a company
A shareholder is not personally liable for acts performed in the name of the company and is not liable to contribute to losses of the company in excess of the amount which he must pay to the company as contribution for his shares. There is therefore a legal separation between the assets and liabilities of the company and those of the shareholder.
Piercing the corporate veil in its purest form means making a shareholder responsible for the actions of the company. In essence this means ignoring the separate legal identity of the company. …
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NETHERLANDS CARIBBEAN BANKS AND REGULATORY ISSUES
A bank has less freedom than an ordinary legal entity
What would be the requirements, from a regulatory point of view, if a Netherlands Antilles bank wished to sell its entire business or a substantial part thereof? Would it require approval from the Netherlands Antilles Central Bank (de ‘Bank van de Nederlandse Antillen’)?
Generally, if the activity at a bank is characterized as some form of financial reorganization, for example, the prior approval of the Central Bank is required. The bank is also obliged to immediately inform the Central Bank in writing of any resolution for complete or partial liquidation or …
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THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN AND ITS CIVIL LAW SYSTEM
Abstract rules are the starting point
The Netherlands Antilles are an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is composed of three parts: the Kingdom in Europe (popularly known as Holland, north of Belgium and west of Germany), the Netherlands Antilles (in the Caribbean Sea, north of Venezuela), and Aruba (also in the Caribbean Sea, north of Venezuela). Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles are autonomous except for matters of defense and foreign affairs. Curacao is the largest of five islands that form the Netherlands Antilles. The other islands are Saba, St …
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AMSTERDAM COURT OF APPEAL ON LIABILITY OF TRUST DIRECTORS
Trust directors not treated differently from regular directors
The board of directors of an NV or BV may contractually agree to a limitation of its powers to manage the company. Such arrangements are typical for trust offices engaged by a foreign ultimate beneficiary to render services to ‘his’ company, i.e. the client of a trust office. In principle, any contract a board of directors enters into binds the board and thereby limits its power. However, notwithstanding such a contract, it is still the board of directors that is in charge of managing the affairs of the company.
A distinction should …
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LIFTING OF AN ATTACHMENT UNDER THE LAWS OF THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN (II)
Defendant has to show that the claim is invalid
Article 705, Paragraph 2 of the Netherlands Antilles Code of Civil Procedure states that the lifting of an attachment may be ordered if it appears summarily that the claim is invalid.
According to existing case law of the Dutch Supreme Court (see for instance Supreme Court dd June 14, 1996, NJ (Dutch Law Reports) 1997, 481), this means that the plaintiff (i.e. the party requesting the attachment be lifted in summary proceedings), with due regard for the limitations of summary proceedings, should establish a prima facie case (aannemelijk maken) that the …
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WHAT DAMAGES ARE RECOVERABLE UNDER ARUBAN LAW? (II)
Case law
The Supreme Court in its case law has held that relatives of a deceased person are only entitled to sue for damages against the person liable for his or her death, if and to the extent that their death has left them in need. The extent of need is measured by the standard of living of the surviving relatives during the life of the deceased. See, for example, Supreme Court dated December 13, 1985 and Supreme Court dated February 28, 1986. This rule may be considered one of the fundamental principles and values of the Aruban legal system, …
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BANKRUPTCY AND INTEREST CLAIMS IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Bankruptcy vs non-bankruptcy claims
There are special statutory provisions regarding agreed interest rates, for instance, in a contract between the creditor and a party who subsequently goes bankrupt, during a bankruptcy (faillissement) and moratorium on payements (surseance van betaling). It is explicitly stated in the Netherlands Antilles Bankruptcy Decree (Faillissementsbesluit 1931) that only the interest accumulated prior to a pronunciation of bankruptcy may be paid from the bankruptcy assets (faillissementsboedel). In the event of a moratorium on payments a similar provision exists.
Bankruptcy does not mean that the bankrupt party ceases to be a debtor of non-verifiable claims. If at …
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A JOINDER BETWEEN PARTIES IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
An interest must be proved
When two parties are involved in legal proceedings a third party may request permission to join the proceedings thereby to joining with one party in raising defense against the other (‘voeging’). Alternatively, a third party may request permission to intervene (‘tussenkomen‘) in pending proceedings, in which case neither party is joined.
The Dutch Supreme Court (May 3, 1957, NJ 1959, nr. 62) ruled that a joinder between parties in pending proceedings may only be sustained if the party requesting the joinder have an evident interest in supporting one of the parties’ positions, and thus in …
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DUTCH SAME-SEX COUPLES HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AS OPPOSITE-MARRIED COUPLES IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Spigthoff represented plaintiff
According to a recent court ruling in the Netherlands Antilles (Court of First Instance, 17 July 2008), a same-sex couple that was married in the Netherlands and subsequently moved to the Netherlands Antilles (Curacao), has the same rights under Netherlands Antilles law (or Aruban law as the case may be) as Netherlands Antilles opposite-married couples as far as health insurance is concerned. Dr. Douwe Boersema of Spigthoff Attorneys & Tax Advisers on Curacao represented the couple.
Same-sex couples have been able to marry in the Netherlands for the last seven years. However, Aruba and the …
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