What are petition orders?
A petition order, or an application for injunctive relief, is a mechanism that allows a petitioner to seek a declaratory judgment on an emergency basis when irreversible harm is reasonably feared to be imminent.
Common examples of when a petition order would be appropriate are when a petitioner reasonably fears that key evidence is at risk of being physically destroyed or damaged and when there is reasonable belief that recoverable assets will be removed from a sovereign territory.
A petitioner’s right to seek interlocutory or injunctive relief is established in Chapter 10 of the Civil Procedure Law (promulgated by Royal Decree 29/2002). Article 190 thereof expressly provides:
“In cases where the law sets out the legal right of the litigant to bring about an injunction he shall apply by petition to the judge for the provisional matters or to chairman of the panel which examine the case. The said petition shall be of two counter parts and includes facts of the application and supporting documents besides stating a domicile of choice to the applicant at the city in which the court is located.”
The application for a petition order must be sufficiently detailed so as to enable the judge to review the file and to make an informed determination on its merits. Further, the application, and all assertions made therein, must be fully substantiated with evidence.
What is the process for filing a petition order?
A petition order should be filed with the Primary Court – Commercial Circuit. The Primary Court will have exclusive jurisdiction to review the application, and to determine whether to issue a petition order. There is a presumption that the petition order will be immediately enforceable in the event that a favourable decision is granted by the Primary Court.
It is important to note that petition orders are not ex parte applications, that is, the party against whom the petition order is filed (i.e., the respondent) must be served, and must respond. Notwithstanding this, the Primary Court still may issue an interim decision prior to considering the respondent’s rejoinder, if it believes the circumstances indeed warrant immediate action.
The respondent will have the right to appeal the Primary Court’s decision to the Appeal Court, and, if necessary, to appeal the Appeal Court’s decision to the Supreme Court. However, a petition order issued by the lower courts will remain enforceable even if the respondent elects to appeal. It is only if the respondent is successful upon appeal that the petition order will be lifted.
Under what circumstances will a petition order be granted by the Omani courts?
Article 190 of the Civil Procedure Law only permits the courts to consider injunctive application when the application itself is substantively grounded in a specific law. The legislature has chosen to regulate petition orders in this manner in order to prevent frivolous and groundless injunctive applications from being filed.
We touched on a few common examples as to when an injunctive order may be grounded in a specific law. Some further examples include:
- the right to arrest a ship, pursuant to the Omani Maritime Law (promulgated by Royal Decree 35/1981), when it is reasonably feared that a vessel may leave Omani territories when there is a commercial debt owed;
- potentially freezing assets when parties are in the midst of a financial dispute; or
- seeking a travel ban on an individual when a criminal investigation may be forthcoming, pursuant to the Omani Penal Code (Royal Decree 77/1974).
Conclusion
Injunctive relief is available in Oman in certain circumstances. Such a mechanism can be a valuable tool in disputes in which issues might be time-sensitive, or there is a risk that key evidence may be lost.
