CL-2015-000047 - [2025] EWHC 1837 (Comm)

INTRODUCTION

This is an application by the Claimants to strike out certain allegations of dishonesty made by the active Defendants in the context of an inquiry into damages caused by a freezing order granted in the Claimants’ favour in 2015, which I discharged in February 2025 following my judgment in the Defendants’ favour after the trial of the action.

The Claimants submit that the dishonesty allegations are not relevant, save possibly to two matters which the Claimants are willing to concede. The Defendants submit that the allegations are relevant for reasons over and above those two matters, and that the strike-out application should be dismissed.

I have concluded, for the reasons given below, that the dishonesty allegations may be relevant to certain matters concerning causation which the Defendants seek to advance, and that the strike-out application must be adjourned in order to give the Defendants an opportunity to plead those matters and the Claimants an opportunity to respond to them.