Company granted worldwide freezing order against debtor
A company has been granted a worldwide freezing order on the assets of a debtor who had put forward a “concocted case at trial”.
The case involved GML International Ltd & Others v Harfield (2020).
GML and the other claimants had brought proceedings to recover significant sums of money paid to Harfield, who resisted by arguing that the monies had been paid to him in part performance of a compensation agreement.
The trial judge found that the payments had been loans, which the claimants were entitled to recover.
He also awarded the claimants their costs on an indemnity basis because Harfield’s evidence had been unreliable, he had deliberately tried to avoid his debt and he had subjected the second claimant to hostile and expensive litigation.
Harfield failed to pay the judgment debt, and the claimants’ attempts to contact him received no response.
They submitted that a freezing injunction should be granted because Harfield had put forward an untruthful and concocted case at trial and he had failed to disclose his UK assets.
The court granted the application. It held that there was overwhelming evidence of a risk of dissipation of assets.
It was necessary to look at the factual background which was that Harfield knew that he owed money to the claimants, that he had concocted a defence to the claim, that he had put forward his case aggressively and that he had instructed expensive representation without explaining how he was paying for it.
The judge’s findings of dishonesty showed a wilful attempt by Harfield not to honour the judgment.
Furthermore, there were serious questions as to where he kept his money. Accordingly, a freezing injunction and disclosure order were granted.
Please contact Neil O’Callaghan if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of credit control and debt collection.
Company granted worldwide freezing order against debtor
GML INTERNATIONAL LTD & ORS v HARFIELD (2020)
QBD (Judge Simpkiss) 23/07/2020
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