International Law

WorldWide Mareva InJunctions Not Readily Granted

By Rick Rein

Despite what some professionals may pronounce, worldwide Mareva injunctions are not common-place and so easily obtainable in English common-law countries. Jersey is a good example.

There in Africa Edge S.a.r.l. v. Incat Equipment Rental Limited and Others(2008) JRC 175, the court distinguished between injunctions in aid of enforcement of judgments and pre-judgment when a plaintiff is merely asserting a claim. Here, the court was faced with an application for a worldwide injunction to enforce a Belgian judgment against two Jersey defendants. The court noted that a worldwide injunction is a "drastic remedy", "rarely justified", and the court must be satisfied that the injunction is "essential". But, in the case of an injunction to enforce a judgment, "it is just and convenient that the judgment or award creditor should normally have all the information he needs to execute the judgment or award anywhere in the world." Given that the Belgian judgment had been outstanding since 2002 and the defendants had initially given inadequate disclosure of their assets, it was proper to require the defendants to give disclosure of their worldwide assets.

However, on a pre-judgment basis where a plaintiff merely asserts a claim and a court is not in a position to determine if the claim is well founded, the threshold for a Mareva injunction is much higher and for it to have a worldwide effect very difficult to obtain absent exigent circumstances.

Full post as published by International Asset Recovery Law Blog on March 12, 2010 (boomark / email).