September 7, 2021
In an important decision for civil fraud practitioners, the Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in the case of Les Ambassadeurs Club Ltd v Songbo Yu [2021] EWCA Civ 1310. The question before the Court was what is meant by the phrase “real risk of dissipation” in the context of freezing relief. Following Gee on Commercial Injunctions, the Appellant argued that a risk is “real” if it is “more than merely fanciful”. The Court of Appeal disagreed. It held that a non-fanciful risk is necessary but will not always sufficient. Whilst recognising that a “real risk” had been equated with a non-fanciful risk in other, analogous contexts, it declined to add such a gloss in the context of freezing relief. Guy Olliff-Cooper acted for the Appellant. Click here for a copy of the judgment