In the High Court (Zacaroli J) considered whether a dissolved company, that did not exist, could be granted a freezing order whilst there was a pending application to restore the company to the register by the company director and shareholder.

Background

The claimant, a company that was dissolved, had applied for the continuation of a freezing order (without notice) against the defendant. The claimant presented compelling evidence that the claimant company had been defrauded by the defendant of more than £300,000, and that the claimant company was struck off The Companies House register as a result.

The defendant had previously failed to comply with the order of Walton J. The judge therefore considered the risk to the claimant, that it may not obtain the information previously ordered, unless the freezing order was now granted.

The judge held that under section 37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, the court had jurisdiction to grant the freezing order against a third-party debtor of the company (HMRC v Egleton [2006] EWHC 2313 (Ch)).

Decision

The judge granted an interim freezing order over the defendant’s assets, pending the claimant’s restoration to the register. In these rare circumstances, there was no alternative route as there was no possibility of appointing provisional liquidators to restore the company to the register.

Addressing the question of costs, the judge was satisfied that the costs in the schedule were justified and summarily assess those costs in the sum of £44,000.

Case: Yuzu Hair and Beauty Ltd (Dissolved) v Selvathiraviam [2019] EWHC 772 (Ch) (13 February 2019) (Zacaroli J).