Edward Levey QC acted for United Homes Limited (UHL) in its successful application to set aside an injunction granted by Mr Justice Mann at a without notice hearing on 10 December 2020.
Following a hearing before Mrs Justice Bacon on 18 and 19 February 2021, the court concluded that the applicant, Valbonne Estates Limited, had made seriously misleading statements and that there had been serious and substantial breaches of the duty of full and frank disclosure at the without notice hearing. The court set aside the injunction, refused an application to re-grant it and awarded UHL its costs on an indemnity basis.
The application arose out of an attempt by Valbonne to enforce an arbitral award relating to a leasehold property and prevent the property from being sold on to UHL. Valbonne’s attempt to enforce the arbitral award gives rise to the issue as to whether an arbitral tribunal has power to issue a second award after it has already issued a final award and whether a party is entitled to enforce an arbitral award which was made orally.
The judgment handed down today serves as an important reminder that the obligation on an applicant to give full and frank disclosure is not temporally limited to the hearing of the without notice application, but continues until the first inter partes hearing. Accordingly, where misleading statements are made as part of a without notice application for injunctive relief, the applicant is under a continuing duty to return to court to correct those statements even before the ‘return date’.
Edward was instructed in this matter by Sean Upson and Elaina Bailes of Stewarts Law. A copy of the judgment is available here.
