Freezing Injunctions And Enforcement

A recent unreported decision (ENRC NV v Zamin Ferrous Limited [2015] JRC 217) has demonstrated the Jersey Royal Court's willingness to make disclosure orders not only to police post-judgment freezing orders but also to ensure that judgment creditors have all the information they need to enforce their judgments worldwide.

Background

In ongoing litigation in the English Commercial Court, ENRC NV ("ENRC") obtained summary judgment against Zamin Ferrous Limited ("Zamin", a Jersey company) on a counterclaim in June 2015 in the amount of US$65 million plus interest. ENRC then applied to the Royal Court of Jersey ex parte for an order freezing Zamin's assets and requiring Zamin to answer a number of questions about its assets and assets held by its subsidiaries. Zamin provided answers to those questions which revealed that two agreements had been entered into pursuant to which certain assets held by its subsidiaries were to be transferred to third parties.

This, combined with existing concerns about Zamin's conduct, cast doubts upon the effectiveness of the freezing order and ENRC's ability to enforce its judgment. Consequently, by an inter partes application, ENRC sought disclosure of the agreements, and related information. Zamin opposed the application on a number of grounds, including the following:

Zamin had applied for permission to appeal the summary judgment order and for a stay of execution pending determination of the appeal; the value of its ongoing claim against ENRC, due to be tried in February 2016, was significantly higher than the value of ENRC's judgment against Zamin, and ENRC's defence to that claim was said to be weak; the disclosure application amounted to a fishing expedition for commercially sensitive documents, and ENRC could not be trusted to treat such documents in confidence. Decision

The Jersey Court was satisfied that the applicant was entitled to further disclosure. It held* that the extant application for leave to appeal and for a stay was no basis to refuse to grant the relief sought. It refused to engage in the merits of the parties' respective cases in the English proceedings, nor would it make findings as to the respective parties' conduct in what was clearly "hard-fought litigation", save to acknowledge that there was evidence of apparent dissipation of assets by Zamin. It was also satisfied that the two agreements were prima facie required by ENRC in order properly to police the freezing order, and to enable it...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT