Enforcement in England of a Judgment obtained from a Court in Asia

Date of Case:June – October 2020

Key Issue(s):

What We Did:

We took the Judgment obtained from the overseas Court and carried out investigations in to the whereabouts of the Defendants to those overseas proceedings to confirm that they were resident in England, and that they had

Scope of Work:

The client is a high net work individual resident in Asia who had contracted with the Defendants in Asia and a contractual dispute arose.

Case Details:

There has been long running proceedings between our client and the Defendants in the Courts in Asia. This eventually resulted in a ‘Judgment by Consent’ being entered into between the parties, whereby the Defendants agreed to pay the Claimant the Judgment debt by way of tranche payments. Despite the Defendants having considerable assets in England, payment did not materialise. The Claimant client therefore had to take steps to enforce the Judgment obtained through the English Courts. Without taking such action the Claimant client would have no prospects of enforcing the Judgment in Asia, where the Defendants do not have any assets.

Process:

The first step being to get the Asian Judgment recognised in the English Courts, for it to then be enforced. This required making an application to the High Court, Queens’ Bench Division, seeking permission for the English Court to recognise the Judgment of the foreign Court, so that steps could then be taken to enforce the Judgment in England. Once the Order of the English Court was obtained giving recognition to the foreign Judgment, enforcement methods could then be undertaken to seek recovery of the debt.

Outcome:

The English Court recognised the Asian Judgment to enable it to be enforced in England, as though it were a Judgment of the English Courts.