Notification Injunctions : As An Alternative To Freezing Injunctions, Can They Offer Better Security To Claimants Against Unenforceable Judgments?

An early consideration in the course of litigation is whether a Judgment will ultimately be enforceable and whether a Defendant is likely to disseminate assets to prevent enforcement.

Where there is a real risk that assets are going to be put out of reach, a Claimant can seek, pursuant to s37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, interim protection in the shape of a freezing order. This restrains a Defendant from removing assets from the jurisdiction, or sometimes from dealing with them outside of the jurisdiction.

Due to the draconian nature of such orders they are not easy to obtain and there needs to be good evidence of a real risk of dissipation. This evidence is crucial, as is the offering of a cross undertaking in damages by the Claimant in support of its application. This is effectively an undertaking to compensate the Defendant financially for any losses the presence of the injunction has caused and the Claimant has to often provide security to support its cross