Client Alert:
Ioannides Demetriou LLC has successfully brought a Claim on a transaction and oral agreement concluded in 1975. The judgment deals with trusts and the seldomly visited area of law concerning laches.
Pursuant to a contract for the purchase of immovable property concluded and signed on 12.12.1975, the property was transferred on 22.9.1976 into the name of Defendant 2 company which was a company wholly owned by Defendant 1. Both Plaintiff and Defendant 1 paid equally the purchase price and were thus the true beneficiaries of the said property under a separate oral agreement. Plaintiff and Defendant 1 were long-term associates and business partners in other commercial transactions.
Defendant 1 held the property on trust, through his company Defendant 1, for the benefit of both him and the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff repeatedly asked for transfer of his share in his name, but the defendants omitted and denied acting accordingly. Plaintiff initiated a civil action against defendants 1 and 2 in 2018. The District Court of Nicosia, by its recent judgment dated 20.2.2025 in Action 3554/2018, found in favor of the Plaintiff and awarded damages equal to the plaintiff’s share and calculated on the value of the property. The judgment issued was for €1.756.937,00 plus interest plus costs.
The most significant point decided by the Court in this case was that, upon arguments of abuse of process and delay raised in this case by the Defendants and although the action was filed with considerable delay, there were nevertheless sufficient grounds and evidence that reasonably justified the delay.
The case was handled by our Partner Demetris Kronides and our Senior Associate Nedi Koukouma.
