By its decision dated 15 September 2026 in Shcherbinina v Fedotov & Others, Action No. 2575/2023, the Limassol District Court dismissed the Plaintiff’s interim application, discharged the ex parte orders previously issued and awarded costs in favour of the successful respondents.
The application sought extensive interim relief, including prohibitory orders, anti-suit injunctions and Norwich Pharmacal-type disclosure orders, in the context of allegations involving fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust and the alleged diminution of trust assets.
The Court held that, although the Plaintiff had failed to satisfy the second requirement under section 32 of the Courts of Justice Law, namely a visible prospect of success in the action as formulated. A central issue was the distinction between loss allegedly suffered by the trusts and a personal claim pursued by an individual beneficiary. The Court concluded that the Plaintiff, as one of three beneficiaries of discretionary trusts, had not demonstrated that alleged loss to the trust assets could properly be pursued as a personal claim for damages for her own benefit.
The same reasoning was also material to the Plaintiff’s claim for Norwich Pharmacal disclosure, which the Court considered to have been advanced in support of personal claims rather than for the restoration or protection of the trusts.
The judgment is a useful addition to the still limited, but steadily expanding, body of Cyprus case law on Cyprus International Trusts, particularly in relation to beneficiary standing, discretionary trusts, trust loss and the threshold for interim relief.
The matter was handled by Kypros Ioannides and Sissy Iliadou.