In this action, IWG’s client was already defending overseas proceedings based on an alleged breach of trust. The client instructed IWG when he was served with proceedings in London seeking injunctions in support of the existing foreign proceedings.
In a widely reported decision, the English judge dismissed the application on the basis that it would be “inexpedient” to grant the injunctions sought. In reaching that conclusion, the judge was unwilling to freeze assets in the UK when the overseas proceedings contained no monetary claim. He was also unwilling to grant injunctions over assets not beneficially owned by the client, and in circumstances where the client would have had no effective redress if it had been decided later that the injunction should not have been granted.
IWG partner Ben Horack advised on the litigation.