BVI Court Grants Anti-Suit Injunction

In what is believed to be one of the first ever such orders made in the BVI, the BVI Court has granted an urgent anti-suit injunction on American Cyanamid principles to prohibit a Maltese entity ("Malta Co") from pursuing proceedings against a BVI Company ("BVI Co") in Malta.

The facts of this case are unusual. Malta Co brought proceedings against BVI Co in the BVI Commercial Court in March 2023 (the "BVI Proceedings"). Malta Co relied upon a number of documents in support of its claim in the BVI Proceedings, the originals of which the BVI Co, as Defendant, had an automatic right to inspect under the Civil Procedure Rule 28.16. Malta Co did not, however, voluntarily make such documents available for inspection, such that BVI Co applied to the Court for an order that Malta Co make the original documents available for inspection.