The High Court has held that cryptoassets (in this case Bitcoin) can be treated as property under English law. As such, the owner of a cryptoasset can, in appropriate circumstances, avail itself of the various proprietary remedies that a court is able to grant. The practical significance here was that an insurer that had paid … Read more
A recent Court of Appeal decision illustrates the court’s approach to the protection of confidential information, emphasising that the question of a party’s entitlement to use material obtained in breach of confidence must be determined before that party can rely on the material in support of separate claims, not at the same time or afterwards: … Read more
The Court of Appeal has made a reference to the CJEU, asking for a preliminary ruling as to whether a defendant domiciled in an EU member state has the right, under the recast Brussels Regulation, to be sued in that state and to obtain an anti-suit injunction restraining proceedings in a non-EU jurisdiction. It further … Read more
The Court of Appeal has partly upheld the injunction granted by the Commercial Court restraining the pursuit of arbitration proceedings seated in Lebanon: Sabbagh v Khoury and others [2019] EWCA Civ 1219. In doing so, it confirmed the power of English courts to restrain a foreign arbitration on grounds that the foreign arbitration is oppressive … Read more
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against the removal of a so-called Angel Bell exception to a post-judgment freezing order, with the effect that the defendant was prevented from continuing to make payments in the ordinary course of business: Michael Wilson & “Partners” Ltd v John Forster Emmott [2019] EWCA Civ 219. Whilst … Read more
The High Court has varied a worldwide freezing order by removing language in the order which would have frozen the assets of companies owned by the respondent (directly or indirectly). The variation was granted on the grounds that the relevant assets belonged to, and were in the control of, those companies rather than the respondent: … Read more
In a recent decision, the High Court rejected an application for an interim injunction restraining publication of a decision to impose sanctions on an accountancy firm. The court applied a high threshold test when considering the publication of the decision by a public body and concluded this case was not sufficiently “exceptional” to warrant an … Read more
The Commercial Court has recently considered the scope of the standard undertaking provided in connection with worldwide freezing orders, which requires the applicant to seek the court’s permission before seeking to enforce the order outside England and Wales, or seeking an order of a “similar nature”: Akcine Bendrove Bankas Snoras v Antonov [2018] EWHC 887 … Read more
In March 2018, the Ministry of Justice published quarterly provisional civil justice statistics for England and Wales. These statistics include interesting details regarding the increase in court applications for privacy injunctions in 2017. The guidance to the Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly bulletin published in December 2017 notes that the statistics provided in respect of privacy … Read more
