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The Offshore Litigator's Perspective - Q3 2022
Welcome to our quarterly litigation round up, which brings you Mourant's perspective on legal developments that we see in our work advising on many of the most challenging and complex cases in the offshore courts.
It's been another busy quarter in the offshore litigation world.
Cryptocurrency continues to dominate global headlines, particularly following FTX's recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. Ripples are already starting to impact the offshore litigation market and will undoubtedly continue in the coming months.
Whilst the offshore market has not seen the wave of insolvencies that were expected earlier in the year, restructuring is becoming an increasingly popular way of managing repayment of debt. It will therefore be interesting to see whether Cayman's new restructuring officer regime proves effective, and how it is received in onshore jurisdictions.
We also consider a landmark decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which considered the rights of indemnity of successive trustees against the assets of an insolvent trust fund, and other issues related to the enforcement of judgments and awards in the offshore world.
Find out about these important issues and more in the latest edition of the Offshore Litigator's Perspective.
Explore our latest issue
BVI
- The BVI court has been considering the status of cryptoassets as 'property' and the remedies available in disputes relating to cryptoassets in the British Virgin Islands. Find out more here.
- The British Virgin Islands chapter of the 10th edition of The Asset Tracing and Recovery Review provides an overview of the civil and criminal rights and remedies available to victims of fraud and those seeking to enforce foreign judgments or arbitral awards. Read here.
- The BVI Court has considered the enforceability of two separate foreign judgments where the claimant sought to enforce an earlier monetary judgment as assignee of the judgment creditor under the terms of the second judgment. Read the details here.
Cayman
-The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upheld a decision of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal, allowing the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award made in terms of the New York Convention. Read the decision here.
- An amendment made to the Cayman Islands Companies Act has introduced a new restructuring officer regime. Find out more here.
- The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has considered whether a need for an investigation into the affairs of a company can be a stand-alone ground for presenting a winding-up petition on just and equitable grounds. Read the reasoning of this here.
Guernsey
- We have written a chapter providing an overview of recognition of foreign judgments. Read here.
- New legislation will regulate the use of unfair contract terms in the consumer credit and home finance space in Guernsey, under the supervision of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission. This is the first time that Guernsey has legislated in the unfair terms space and it remains to be seen whether legislation regulating this area more widely will follow. Read more here.
- The recent decision of BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA shows the assistance that Channel Islands case law may offer to other jurisdictions. The UK Supreme Court considered paid particular regard to a Guernsey Royal Court judgment. Read more here.
Jersey
- Can an agreement to negotiate be a valid contractual obligation? Read here.
A Jersey partner, who was involved in the Jersey case of Re Z Trusts, and a Guernsey Partner, who is involved in the Guernsey case of ITG –v- Glenalla, report on the Privy Council decision in those cases. Read more here.
- A recent judgment the Royal Court of Jersey considered the appropriate test for the making of a disqualification order against a director, with a disqualification order being made on the facts of the case. Read here.
Our blog, The Offshore Litigator's Perspective, is where you'll find our point of view on significant cases in the courts and key legal developments – putting relevant, decisive and pithy news at your fingertips.
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About Mourant
Mourant is a law firm-led, professional services business with over 60 years' experience in the financial services sector. We advise on the laws of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey and Luxembourg and provide specialist entity management, governance, regulatory and consulting services.
