High Court considers application of gateways for service out of the jurisdiction to cryptoassets removed from the jurisdiction

26 January, 2023
A recent High Court decision suggests that there is some doubt as to the proper construction of the gateways allowing service out of the jurisdiction for claims relating to property in the jurisdiction, and for claims in constructive or resulting trust relating to assets within the jurisdiction. In particular, the decision suggests that it may … Read more

Anti-suit injunction granted restraining proceedings in an EU member state

02 December, 2022
The Commercial Court has granted an anti-suit injunction restraining Belgian proceedings brought in breach of an exclusive English jurisdiction clause: Ebury Partners Belgium SA/NV v Technical Touch BV, Jan Berthels [2022] EWHC 2927 (Comm). This appears to be one of the first cases post-Brexit in which an anti-suit injunction has been granted by an English … Read more

Article published – Injunctions against “Persons Unknown”: uncertain territory

17 October, 2022
A recent High Court decision has highlighted a number of issues relating to injunctions against “Persons Unknown”, and specifically the fact that these orders have the potential to catch “newcomers” – people who did not fall within the defined category of “Persons Unknown” at the time the injunction was made but are subsequently brought within … Read more

High Court grants freezing injunction in relation to stolen non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

07 July, 2022
Adding to the run of recent cases involving fraud or theft of cryptoassets, the High Court has granted an order restraining “persons unknown” from dissipating NFTs allegedly stolen from the claimant’s cryptoasset wallet: Lavinia Deborah Osbourne v (1) Persons Unknown (2) Ozone [2022] EWHC 1021 (Comm). (The decision dates from March this year, but the … Read more

Privy Council restatement of the law on freezing and other interim injunctions

15 February, 2022
In a recent judgment, the Privy Council has delivered a “ground-breaking exposition of the law of injunctions” (in the words of the Master of the Rolls), including a restatement of the test for freezing injunctions. Although the analysis is technically obiter dicta, it will be highly influential on any English or other common law court … Read more

High Court considers where cryptocurrencies are located and compels disclosure of information by cryptocurrency exchanges outside the UK

24 February, 2021
On 22 December 2020, the High Court ruled on an ex parte interim application involving allegations of fraud in relation to a cryptocurrency initial coin offering (ICO). An ICO, similar to an initial public offering or IPO, is a fund-raising exercise but which seeks to raise finance through the creation of a cryptocurrency or cryptographic … Read more

Two interesting decisions on freezing injunctions

11 September, 2020
Recent posts on our Civil Fraud and Asset Tracing Notes blog highlight two interesting decisions on freezing injunctions. In the first, the Court of Appeal clarified that, in the absence of an established pattern of trading, expenditure pursuing a fledgling business is unlikely to fall within the “ordinary and proper course of business” exception to … Read more

Court of Appeal refuses injunction against defendant’s solicitors who received claimant’s confidential information when acting for previous opponent

08 June, 2020
The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision refusing to grant an injunction to restrain a firm of solicitors acting for a defendant in circumstances where they had previously obtained relevant confidential information belonging to the claimant: Glencairn IP Holdings Ltd v Product Specialities Inc (t/a Final Touch) [2020] EWCA Civ 609. The solicitors had … Read more

High Court finds evidence of without prejudice discussions should be admitted to establish real risk of dissipation of assets in support of freezing injunction

22 May, 2020
The High Court has held that evidence of statements made in “without prejudice” settlement discussions should be admitted in support of an application for a freezing order. The respondents’ threat – to move assets and structure its affairs to frustrate the applicants’ enforcement of a US judgment – fell within the narrow “unambiguous impropriety” exception … Read more