In a recent judgment the English High Court has again shown its ability to innovate so as to assist victims of crypto fraud. By imposing a constructive trust on a crypto exchange and permitting service of an order for summary...more
12/8/2022
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Fraud ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Software ,
Summary Judgment ,
UK
In a recent innovative ruling, the English High Court has granted permission for a claim to be served on a defendant by non-fungible token (NFT), embracing blockchain technology and taking a pragmatic view on the most...more
8/3/2022
/ Blockchain ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Wallets ,
Financial Fraud ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Misrepresentation ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Service of Process ,
UK ,
Unjust Enrichment
In a recent decision, the English High Court has confirmed that injunctive relief cannot be granted against states, notwithstanding that this restriction interferes with Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) of the European...more
In an important ruling, the English High Court has recognised for the first time that there is an arguable case that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are to be treated as property under English law. This means that the powerful...more
6/29/2022
/ Blockchain ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Markets ,
Fraud ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Investor Protection ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
UK ,
UK Supreme Court
The English High Court has granted a combination of powerful remedies including worldwide freezing orders in favour of a UK resident who fell victim to persons unknown operating a suspected cryptocurrency investment scam....more
3/10/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
International Litigation ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Misappropriation ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
UK ,
Virtual Currency
The English High Court has decided that, in determining whether it has jurisdiction to hear claims about economic loss, the focus must be on where the loss manifested itself (i.e. its crystallisation) rather than on the...more
The UK Supreme Court has delivered an important judgment which confirms that those (including business people) under criminal investigation have a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of information relating to that...more
2/24/2022
/ Bloomberg Inc. ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Freedom of Expression ,
News Stories ,
Publishers ,
Reputation Management ,
Reputational Injury ,
Right to Privacy ,
UK ,
UK Supreme Court
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has banned Binance Markets Limited (“Binance”) – part of one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges – from carrying out any regulated activity in the UK. This not only...more
A recent High Court judgment has emphasised that where a claimant has chosen to sue a party in England rather than in another jurisdiction, factors such as the risk of a multiplicity of proceedings and inconsistent judgments...more
In a recent judgment, the English court has demonstrated that pre-emptive remedies are available to litigants who have been subject to cryptoasset fraud even where the alleged fraud originates outside the UK.1 From orders...more
The eagerly anticipated decision of the English Court of Appeal in Strategic Technologies Pte Ltd v. Procurement Bureau of the Republic of China Ministry of National Defence has confirmed that it is impermissible to register...more
President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on June 8, 2020 designed to provide legal recourse, in certain cases, to Russian (and foreign) persons who have been sanctioned by foreign states....more
Sovereign States have, for a long time, enjoyed a degree of protection from the English courts under the State Immunity Act 1978. For example, absent a pre-agreed method of service such as on a service agent in England,...more
The recent decision of the English Supreme Court in Vedanta Resources PLC v Lungowe and others provides a further example of the willingness of the English courts to assume jurisdiction over cases which have very little...more
5/24/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Breach of Duty ,
Commercial Court ,
Contract Disputes ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Forum Selection ,
International Litigation ,
Negligence ,
Remedies ,
Russia ,
UK ,
UK Supreme Court ,
Zambia
Commercial court litigation is often seen as a tactical weapon that provides a means to a greater end, in an international context the end perhaps being the securing of an English judgment that might then assist parallel...more
8/17/2018
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Commercial Court ,
Discontinuance ,
Foreign Judgments ,
Fraud ,
International Litigation ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mootness ,
Parallel Proceedings ,
Ripeness ,
Standing ,
UK
The recent decision of the London Commercial Court in PJSC Tatneft v Gennady Bogolyubov & Ors [2018] EWHC 1314 (Comm) highlights the importance that the Court will attach to full asset disclosure by a respondent to ensure the...more
The Commercial Court in London recently granted an anti-suit injunction in order to halt Lebanese legal proceedings brought in breach of an English arbitration agreement: Perkins Engines Company Ltd v. Ghaddar [2018] EWHC...more
7/6/2018
/ Anti-Suit Injunctions ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Breach of Contract ,
Contract Terms ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
International Arbitration ,
International Treaties ,
Lebanon ,
Reciprocity Rules ,
UK
A trend has emerged which demonstrates the London Commercial Court’s increasing willingness to adopt a pragmatic approach to the method of service of documents on a foreign State in appropriate cases, even though the...more
A weapon of value to litigants in England is the ability to seek disclosure of documents from a likely party to litigation before proceedings start. Obtaining such pre-action disclosure can yield crucial information at the...more
Enforcing an arbitration award or a judgment against a sovereign state is not always easy. The case of Avionics Technologies Ltd v The Federal Republic of Nigeria and another addressed the novel issue of whether it is...more
Obtaining a judgment is one thing, enforcing it is another. The location of a judgment debtor’s assets can be unknown or deliberately hidden. A judgment creditor may therefore wish to obtain information from a judgment debtor...more
The English High Court has clarified one aspect of service of English proceedings in Russia under the Hague Convention.
The English Courts remain an attractive venue for Russian related litigation. A claimant wishing to...more
A valuable remedy open to a party in English civil proceedings is to seek a Norwich Pharmacal order. Such orders require a respondent to disclose certain information or documents to the applicant. The respondent party need...more
The Defamation Act 2013 (“the Act”) reformed the law relating to slander and libel in England. It was heralded by a Justice Minister as “the end of a long and hard fought battle to ensure a fair balance is struck between the...more
The international caseload of the English commercial court is enormous. A survey of 705 commercial court judgments handed down in the past five years showed that about 62% of the litigants involved were based outside England...more