The Constitutional Court yesterday confirmed a judgment in which a company had been ordered to pay Lm400 as a penalty for filing a lawsuit which was deemed to be frivolous and vexatious.

Hix Ltd had filed a constitutional application before the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Attorney General and against the Gasan family.

The company had been ordered to vacate its premises, leased from the Gasan family, after the Rent Regulation Board had agreed with the Gasans that the company had changed the use to which the premises could be put.

The board's judgment had been confirmed on appeal and the company then lodged a constitutional application.

However, the Civil Court concluded that the constitutional application was merely a manoeuvre to file an appeal from the Court of Appeal's judgment.

This constituted an abuse of the judicial process, the Civil Court noted, ordering Hix Ltd to pay all the costs of the litigation together with additional costs of Lm400 to the Registrar of Courts for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

The company then appealed to the Constitutional Court, composed of Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice Joseph D. Camilleri and Mr Justice Joseph A. Filletti.

In deciding whether the appeal was admissible, the court noted that the Civil Court had correctly applied the law in the manner in which it had been interpreted by a number of local judgments. There was no appeal from a decision that a constitutional application was frivolous and vexatious.

The Constitutional Court, therefore, found that the appeal lodged by Hix Ltd was null and void.