Revisiting And Resisting Freezing Orders

Freezing orders are one of the most important weapons in a court's arsenal to prevent parties from disposing of or dissipating assets to ensure they will be available to satisfy a potential future money judgment.

In the British Virgin Islands, the court is empowered to grant a freezing order under the provisions of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and the Civil Procedure Rules. This includes the so-called "Black Swan" jurisdiction—the power to grant freezing orders against a respondent domiciled in the Virgin Islands in support of litigation taking place in another forum. Freezing orders are particularly useful in claims of fraud. However, a sampling of Court of Appeal decisions over the past five years demonstrates the expansion of their use beyond fraud cases to a range of disputes, including divorce proceedings, unfair prejudice arbitration, and probate litigation.