“1.….[SHI]…, the Defendant, conducted substantial foreign exchange and equities trading with….[DB]…, the Claimant. This trading became loss making and when SHI failed to meet margin calls DB took proceedings to recover the debts owed to it. DB was awarded judgment in the sum of US$243m plus 85% of its costs on an indemnity basis. SHI is the creature company of Mr Vik, its former, and until April 2015, sole director and shareholder. Accordingly he has been held to be liable to pay DB£36m on account in respect of its costs. He has paid that amount on account of costs but SHI has not paid the judgment debt. It appears that Mr Vik has taken action to strip SHI of any assets….”
“ …to provide documents in SHI’s control relating to SHI’s means of paying the judgment debt and to attend court in order to be cross-examined about SHI’s means. That order was served on Mr Vik when he was within the jurisdiction. Mr Vik applied to set aside the order. That application was dismissed by Cooke J. He subsequently provided some disclosure and attended this court for cross-examination. DB contends that Mr Vik deliberately failed to disclose many documents and lied under oath…..”
“ ….issued an application seeking permission underCPR 6.38 to serve an application for a suspended committal order out of the jurisdiction, an order permitting personal service of the committal application on Mr Vik in Monaco where he resides and, in the event that he does not accept personal service, an order underCPR 81.10 (5) andCPR 6.15 dispensing with personal service and permitting DB to serve the committal application via email and registered post on Mr Vik’s solicitors, Taylor Vinters LLP.”
“1. The Court has subject-matter jurisdiction to hear committal proceedings against Mr Vik for alleged breaches of theCPR 71.2 Order, notwithstanding that Mr Vik is not within the jurisdiction. 2. DBAG [i.e., DB] is not entitled to permission to serve the Committal Application out of the jurisdiction in Monaco underCPR 6.38 andPractice Direction 6B 3.1(10). 3. Permission is not required for DBAG to serve the Committal Application on Mr Vik out of the jurisdiction in Monaco. 4. DBAG has permission underCPR 81.10 (5) (and if requiredCPR 6.15 ) to dispense with personal service of the Committal Application and to serve the Committal Application on Mr Vik’s solicitors….”
“…which provide for a judgment debtor to be required to attend court to provide information, for the purpose of enabling a judgment creditor to enforce a judgment or order against him.”
“A person served with an order issued under this rule must – (a) attend court at the time and place specified in the order; (b) when he does so, produce at court documents in his control which are described in the order; and (c) answer on oath such questions as the court may require. ” (a) attend court at the time and place specified in the order; (b) when he does so, produce at court documents in his control which are described in the order; and (c) answer on oath such questions as the court may require. ”
“ You must obey this order. If you do not, you may be sent to prison for contempt of court.”
“….. I am unable to accept that where there is a breach of an order made under Part 71 a party can only proceed in accordance with Part 71.8. It is true that Part 71.8 provides a specific procedure and only provides for a suspended committal order but the specific procedure is for applications where the summary or streamlined procedure is appropriate. If such a procedure is appropriate then the specific procedure must be followed. But if it is not then the procedure provided by Part 81 must be followed. The summary or streamlined procedure can only result in a suspended committal order whereas the longer procedure inCPR 81 is not so limited. There is no question of ‘outflanking’ or ‘circumventing’ the restrictions imposed by Part 71.8. The procedure in Part 71.8 is for one type of application, that is, the summary or streamlined procedure and the procedure in Part 81 is for other cases. ”
“The new Pt 71 was designed to meet these criticisms, retaining imprisonment as the last resort, but streamlining the process, subject to appropriate protections.”
“…for the court to approach the making of severe orders with any degree of promiscuity just because it has an expectation, however well justified, that they are unlikely to need to be enforced. ”
“ …Rule 71.8 gives the court power to make a committal order, but that requires the exercise of discretion, which in turn requires consideration of the circumstances of the contempt. Committing a person to prison for contempt of court is a serious step, too serious….to be undertaken simply as a matter of routine without enquiring into the nature of the contempt and the circumstances in which it has been committed and giving reasons, at any rate briefly, for the decision.”
“ If a judge or court officer refers to a High Court Judge or Circuit Judge the failure of a judgment debtor to comply with an order under rule 71.2, he shall certify in writing the respect in which the judgment debtor failed to comply with the order.”
“…where jurisdiction in respect of a claim or an order is established over a person the jurisdiction which is established must include…jurisdiction in respect of matters which are incidental to that claim or order. ”
“An order of a court must carry with it the means to enforce that order. If it did not there would be no utility in the order for it could be disobeyed without the threat of sanction. The means to enforce an order are therefore a necessary incident of the order. An order for committal is one of the means by which court orders are enforced. For that reason an order for committal is….a necessary incident of a court order. That is clearly demonstrated by the presence of a penal notice at the beginning of the Part 71 order. I therefore consider that in circumstances where the court has jurisdiction to make the Part 71 order against Mr Vik the court also has jurisdiction to make a committal order against him. Permission to serve the application to commit Mr Vik for contempt out of the jurisdiction is not required because he is already subject to the jurisdiction of this court in respect of the Part 71 order and all matters which are incidents of that order, one of which is an order for committal for contempt of the Part 71 order….. If that is so for the summary contempt procedure provided byCPR 71.8 it must also be for the longer procedure provided byCPR 81 …. ”
“ I accept that an application to commit for contempt is an application to commence ‘proceedings’ for contempt and that such proceedings can fairly be described as ‘new’. However, I am unable to accept that such an application cannot also be described as ‘incidental’ to an order which has been validly made against a person whilst he was within the jurisdiction of the court and in respect of which it is said that he has acted in contempt...”
“….when an application incidental to the Part 71 order is issued DB does not need to establish jurisdiction again simply because Mr Vik is now outside the jurisdiction…”
“….He [i.e., Mr Hinton, the witness] could not be required to come to this country to answer a charge of contempt;…. The court….will not be able to impose any practical sanction on him while he remains outside the jurisdiction. Of course, his presence in the country was one reason for making the application as soon as he had completed his evidence. ….these factors ….inevitably raise the question whether anything is now to be gained by giving KJM permission to bring proceedings against him.”
“ I can see that there may be some cases in which considerations of this kind might tip the balance against granting permission, but in general I do not think that they should weigh significantly against doing so. The international business community conducts a large amount of litigation in this country and it is common for statements to be provided by witnesses from abroad for use in procedural hearings. This case is a good example. The integrity of the system as a whole would be undermined if it were thought that foreign witnesses were not subject to the same discipline as witnesses from this country.”
“ ….the fact that Part 81 is only engaged if the underlying proceedings are properly before the English courts, i.e., that there is a sufficient connection between the subject matter of the proceedings and this country is factor pointing the other way [i.e., towards extraterritorial effect]. The court has an interest in being able to control the participants in such proceedings and to have a means of disciplining a company, which is in contempt because of the actions of its directors. That need exists whether the company is registered in this jurisdiction or is a foreign company. That need is thus a pointer to the dilution or negation of the force of the presumption.”
“ The negative impact on the court’s disciplinary powers is likely to be particularly marked in the case of a foreign registered company with no assets in this jurisdiction but which has chosen to institute proceedings here or is properly sued here. In the light of the extent to which commercial litigation in this jurisdiction is of an international character and involves foreign companies, and has done so over the last century, if the director’s submissions are correct, the problems would not be theoretical or marginal.”
“ ‘claim’ includes petition and any application made before action or to commence proceedings and ‘claim form’, ‘claimant’ and ‘defendant’ are to be construed accordingly.”
“55. …..The essential question is whether ‘proceedings’ withinCPR r 6.2 include an application for committal. That involves determining whether such an application is made on a ‘claim form’ which is defined by reference to ‘claim’ which ‘includes petition and any application made before action or to commence proceedings’. It is, in my view, clear that an application for committal is the commencement of proceedings….. 56. I also reject the argument that not all contempt applications involve separate proceedings…..I accept [counsel for the second defendant’s] submissions that one of the reasons thatCPR r.81.10 (3)(a) requires the grounds on which a committal application is made to be set out in full is that an application made underCPR r.81.10 (2) involves new proceedings. ”
“The court [in Dar] did not therefore consider whether the jurisdiction so established extended to and included orders which were incidental to the order in respect of which jurisdiction existed.”
“ The following courts of a Member State shall have exclusive jurisdiction, regardless of the domicile of the parties: ….. (5) in proceedings concerned with the enforcement of judgments, the courts of the Member State in which the judgment has been or is to be enforced.” “Judgment” is defined in Art. 2(a) as follows: “ ‘judgment’ means any judgment given by a court or tribunal of a Member State, whatever the judgment may be called, including a decree, order, decision or writ of execution, as well as a decision on the determination of costs or expenses by an officer of the court.” “ ‘judgment’ means any judgment given by a court or tribunal of a Member State, whatever the judgment may be called, including a decree, order, decision or writ of execution, as well as a decision on the determination of costs or expenses by an officer of the court.”
“A claim is made to enforce any judgment or arbitral award.”
“….whilst the committal application is a ‘claim to enforce’ the court’s order underCPR 71.2 ….the court’s order underCPR 71.2 is not a ‘judgment’ within the meaning ofPD6B 3.1(10)…”
“….there is no specific jurisdictional gateway inPD6B permitting service out of the jurisdiction of an application to commit an officer of a company for contempt of an order made pursuant to Part 81 or Part 71 notwithstanding that the fact that the officer is out of the jurisdiction is no bar to the making of such an application.”
“ …very grave doubts whether committal proceedings to enforce a Mareva injunction can brought within that paragraph [i.e., the predecessor to gateway 10] on the footing that an injunctive order is the same thing as a judgment. In context, I would have thought that a judgment meant a determination of the rights of the parties, although not necessarily a final determination, in the same way as is an arbitral award…..”
“(1) If a person – (a) required by a judgment or order to do an act does not do it within the time fixed by the judgment or order; or (b) disobeys a judgment or order not to do an act, then, subject to…..the provisions of these Rules, the judgment or order may be enforced by an order for committal. …..