Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority & Ors v Bestfort Development LLP & Ors

Where interim relief is granted before proceedings have begun, the court should direct that a claim be commenced. Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, this requirement concerns proceedings in England and Wales. Foreign proceedings remain relevant to relief under section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982, but are ordinarily addressed by an undertaking rather than by directions under the domestic procedural rules.

The court may also resolve the practical terms of an adjournment order by recording the limited basis on which representatives appeared, requiring undertakings from the person able to give them, preferring production of bank statements where practicable, and directing ordinary service where solicitors’ authority is limited to a particular hearing.

The applicants sought interim relief, including freezing injunctions, under section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982. At an earlier hearing, the matter was adjourned for an effective hearing later in the year, subject to undertakings and agreed directions.

The parties agreed much of the resulting order but asked the court to determine four outstanding matters: whether a claim form was required; how counsel’s limited appearance for certain respondents should be recorded; the identity of the person giving undertakings concerning bank-account balances and the documents to be produced; and the proper method of serving the order.

1. Claim commencement. The application was governed by Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 25. Rule 25.1(1) empowers the court to grant interim remedies, including a freezing injunction under section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982. Rule 25.2(3) requires the court, when granting an interim remedy before a claim has begun, to give directions requiring commencement of a claim. The order should therefore require a claim in this jurisdiction.
2. The reference in CPR 25.2(3) is not properly read as referring to proceedings which may be commenced abroad. Foreign proceedings may be relevant when the court exercises its section 25 jurisdiction, but they should be dealt with by an undertaking to commence them, rather than by directions under CPR Part 25.
3. Although CPR 25.4(2) generally requires an application for interim relief in a section 25 case to be made under CPR Part 23, paragraph F15.15 of the Admiralty and Commercial Courts Guide overrides that position in the Commercial Court and requires a Part 8 claim form where applicable. That affects when the claim is issued, but does not remove the underlying requirement to commence a claim under CPR 25.2(3).
4. The order should record that counsel had instructions to appear for the specified respondents for the purposes of the earlier hearing only. The undertakings concerning bank balances should be given by Mr Mikadze, so far as he had an interest in the relevant respondents and power to give them. A bank statement was the preferred document where practicable, but alternative bank documentation could be provided if no statement was available. The order should be served on the respondents in the usual way, and not generally on their solicitors where the solicitors’ authority was limited to the earlier hearing.

First-instance determination of outstanding terms following an adjourned application for interim relief. No appellate decision is stated in the judgment.