Offshore Litigation Blog

The long running litigation concerning the Lakatamia Shipping Company (Lakatamia) took a significant twist following the judgment of Simon Colton KC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge.

The decision in Credit Suisse London Nominees Limited v Principal Investing Fund I Limited and Chia Hsing Wang v LV II Investment Management Limited addressed an application seeking declarations that: 1) the company, Blue Water Ltd, of which the Plaintiff, Chia Hsing Wang (Mr Wang), is the ultimate beneficial owner, has a separate legal personality to him and; 2) Mr Wang is not liable for the obligations of Blue Water Ltd under the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) awards against it in favour of the Defendant, LV II Investment Management Limited (LV2IM).

The United Kingdom recently ratified the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (the Hague-19 Convention). It will enter into force on 1 July 2025.

Legislative provisions which govern leave to appeal to the JCPC generally provide for an appeal as of right from a final (as opposed to an interlocutory) decision in certain categories of civil proceeding. But how do you determine if a decision is final?

The BVI Business Companies Act 2004 (the BCA) provides a remedy for members who dissent from proposed actions by the company in the form of a statutory right to have their shares bought out by the company for fair value.

On 23 August 2023 in the early afternoon heat, the British Virgin Islands came to a complete standstill. Half a world away in Budapest, the BVI’s Kyron McMaster crouched in his lane waiting for the starting gun to fire in the 400m hurdles. 47.34 seconds later the small island nation exploded into delirium as McMaster won the BVI’s first ever World Championship medal, silver to follow up his consecutive gold medals at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The recent decision of the England and Wales Court of Appeal in King Crude Carriers SA & Ors v Ridgebury November LLC & Ors confirms the acceptance of the “Mackay v Dick” principle as a matter of English Law.

In the recent decision of In the Matter of Tyr Capital Partners SPC Ltd, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands considered an application by Tyr Capital Partners SPC Ltd (the Fund) seeking an order that a winding up petition issued by TGT GP (the Petitioner) against the Fund be struck out pursuant to section 95(2) of the Companies Act (2023 Revision) which provides that where a petitioner is contractually bound not to present a winding-up petition, the court shall dismiss or adjourn the hearing of the petition.

In a welcome decision of the BVI Commercial Court in its recent decision in the case of Ieremeieva v Estera Corporate Services (BVI) Limited, the court considered and clarified the positions as a matter of BVI law on (i) the requirements for establishing a person as a trustee de son tort and (ii) the reference date in determining whether an invalidated trust instrument is to be treated as invalidated ex tunc (from the date that it was executed) or ex nunc (from the date on which it was invalidated).