Offshore Litigation Blog

On 19 February 2025, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in El-Husseiny v Invest Bank PSC. The case concerned the interpretation of section 423 of the English Insolvency Act 1986 which provides remedies to creditors in circumstances where a debtor has taken steps to defeat or prejudice their claims by entering into a transaction at an undervalue.

In Dos Santos v Unitel SA, the English Court of Appeal clarified the threshold test of a “good arguable case” for granting worldwide freezing injunctions should be equivalent to that of a “serious issue to be tried” as applied in other types of interim injunctions, in accordance with the principles laid down in American Cyanamid.

The Commercial Court in England recently dismissed the Claimant bank's claim of a transaction to defraud creditors because the Bank had not properly pleaded the purpose for which it contended that the Defendant businessman had transferred assets to his family: Invest Bank PSC v El-Husseini.

In a recent ruling at the intersection of cybersecurity, human rights, and sovereign immunity, the English Court of Appeal has determined that Bahrain cannot claim state immunity for remotely hacking the computers of pro-democracy activists in London, setting a precedent with implications far beyond espionage cases.

In a recent matter our firm obtained Norwich Pharmacal relief against a centralised digital asset exchange, marking an important first step in the effort to recover misappropriated digital assets. While the Grand Court did not issue a formal judgment, it made several noteworthy observations that may influence the future handling of similar cases.

In the High Court, Lifestyle Equities, (Lifestyle) successfully claimed that Hornby had infringed their trademarks. Lifestyle also successfully sued the Ahmeds personally, alleging they were jointly liable by sharing a common design with Hornby. Trademark infringement uses strict liability, which meant that there was no need for Lifestyle to prove that the Ahmeds knew of or intended the infringement.

In the recent decision of CF v DLG, the BVI Commercial Court held that a two-step process is to be preferred over the use of “wrap up orders” in Norwich Pharmacal proceedings. The applicant, a judgment creditor, sought Norwich Pharmacal relief against registered agency service providers to the judgment debtor, for information to assist with considering its enforcement options.

The Cyprus legal system has been subject to recent reforms which seek to streamline its processes and offer efficient recourse to the courts in dispute resolution.

In a significant ruling, His Honour Justice Johns KC determined that when calculating equitable compensation, proprietary claims and recoveries made from third parties should be taken into account.