A Tale Of Two Appeals – Victory For Aggrieved Minority Shareholder

Summary

The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal in Siong Beng Seng v Caldicott Worldwide Limited BVIHCMAP 2020/0020 affirmed the well-established but important principle that an appellate court should be slow to interfere with the case management decision of the lower court and found that a minority shareholder is well-entitled to proceed with its unfair prejudice claim against the majority shareholders notwithstanding that its claim against the company in question has been stayed in favour of arbitration.

Further, in Hector Finance Group Limited v Caldicott Worldwide Limited BVIHCVAP 2020/0012 ("Hector Finance"), the Court of Appeal held for the first time that an injunction granted under section 43 of the BVI 2013 (the "Arbitration Act") is not appealable in light of sub-section (10) of section 43 which provides very simply that "[a] decision, order or direction made or issued by the Court under this section is not subject to appeal".