Helen Pugh acts for successful applicants in Re: Glass Slipper

Helen Pugh acted for the successful applicants, Crimson Flower Productions Ltd and others, who were seeking the maximum extension of 2 years to an existing extended civil restraint order in Re: Glass Slipper.

The respondents were various companies within the ‘Glass Slipper group’ and their sole director who had persistently sought to re-litigate a dispute they had with Crimson Flower Productions Ltd arising out of the production of a Film in ‘Swan Lake’ by the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. That dispute had been decided definitively in favour of Crimson Flower, one of the applicants, a number of years ago in IPEC proceedings.

Trower J’s order extending the ECRO demonstrates the flexibility and breadth of the ECRO jurisdiction. Noting there was some confusion on the matter in the caselaw, the judge held that the ECRO does still bite where there are a number of different procedural contexts in which the original grievance is sought to be re-litigated. Although the ECRO was made in insolvency proceedings, the ECRO is broadly drafted to cover the underlying dispute between the parties which had been definitively resolved in the IPEC proceedings.

A successful extension to the ECRO

Further, an extension of an ECRO was appropriate not just where there were breaches of the original ECRO or a number of unsuccessful applications for permission under that ECRO, but also where there was conduct which could be characterised as ‘pestering’ of the applicants such as by sending excessive or onerous correspondence or procuring others to do the same. In this case, the sole director had made attempts to persuade her trustee in bankruptcy to re-litigate the underlying dispute.

Having confirmed the width of the ECRO jurisdiction, Trower J went on to confine the boundaries of the general CRO jurisdiction to that set out in Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset v Gray, namely those cases where there was a number of different grievances leading to a scattergun approach to litigation. A scattergun approach to proceedings based on the same underlying grievance was sufficiently covered by an ECRO.

Read more about the case

This case has been reported in Westlaw here: Glass Slipper Live Events – Event 1 Ltd, Re [2022] EWHC 519 (Ch) (subscription required).

Find out more about Helen

Helen specialises in general commercial litigation, civil fraud, contentious insolvency and company law issues.

Her practice has a strong international element with an expertise in jurisdictional disputes and conflict of law issues, including as they arise at an interim stage in applications for worldwide freezing orders and service out applications or on the substantive claim, and in the cross-border insolvency context. She has substantial experience of all aspects of company and contentious insolvency matters, including shareholder disputes, derivate actions, directors’ disqualification proceedings, misfeasance/breach of fiduciary duty claims, unlawful distribution claims, antecedent transaction challenges, beneficial ownership disputes and other proceedings under the Insolvency Act such as petitions, annulment applications, and applications for examinations.

To find out more, contact Matt Sale +44 (0)20 7427 4910 or Peter Foad +44 (0)20 7427 0807 for a confidential discussion.

News 15 Mar, 2022