Freezing injunctions in the Caribbean

• An injunction can be granted even in the absence of an underlying cause of action.
• Privy Council restates the test for freezing injunctions.

On 4 October 2021, an enlarged seven-member Board of the Privy Council delivered its judgment in Convoy Collateral Ltd v Broad Idea International Ltd [2021] UKPC 24. The judgment of Lord Leggatt, with whom the majority of the Board agreed, contains a detailed rationalisation of the court’s powers to grant freezing orders and interim injunctions generally. In the words of Sir Geoffrey Vos (who was in the minority on these points), Lord Leggatt’s judgment amounts to ‘a ground-breaking exposition of the law of injunctions’. Although Lord Leggatt’s comments were strictly speaking obiter dicta, he expressly said that they represent the law in all jurisdictions ‘where courts have inherited the equitable powers of the former Court of Chancery’ (which obviously includes England & Wales) and they are likely to be highly persuasive.

Background

Convoy