Freezing injunctions: the Convoy Collateral revolution

(A) Overview:

On 4 October 2021, the Privy Council handed down its much-anticipated judgment in the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") case of Convoy Collateral Ltd v Broad Idea International Ltd [2021] UKPC 24. The judgment principally dealt with the question of whether the BVI courts have a free-standing jurisdiction at common law (i.e. without statutory provision to that effect) to grant a freezing injunction against a defendant in the absence of substantive proceedings before the BVI courts. The Privy Council split 4:3 on this issue, having sat with an enlarged panel of 7 Justices. The majority judgment was given by Lord Leggatt, with whom Lord Briggs, Lord Sales and Lord Hamblen agreed. The minority judgment was given by Sir Geoffrey Vos, with whom Lord Reed and Lord Hodge agreed.

This article focuses on the majority judgment and its implications for practitioners specialising in civil fraud and other cross-border commercial disputes. While a decision on BVI law, the judgment treats English and BVI law alike as far as the common law is concerned.

You can read Philippe Kuhn's full post on our Commercial, Construction & International Arbitration Blog here.