Supreme Court reinstates a worldwide anti-enforcement injunction

In a decision released today, the NZ Supreme Court allowed a NZ court to issue a permanent worldwide anti-suit injunction that prevents a US court decision from being enforced anywhere in the world.

The dispute involved entities associated with Sir Owen Glenn, Eric Watson and Kenneth Wikeley. Entities associated with Mr Wikeley had obtained a $123 million judgment in a US court. However, the NZ High Court later ruled that this judgment was based on a forged document and was fraudulently obtained.

As a result, the NZ High Court issued a permanent worldwide anti-suit and anti-enforcement injunction, prohibiting Mr Wikeley from taking any further action on the forged document. It also prevented him from enforcing the US judgment anywhere in the world.

The NZ Court of Appeal overruled the NZ High Court’s decision. It said that a decision to interfere with a judgment of a foreign court was a remedy of an “extraordinary character”, that the US courts did not need assistance from NZ courts in deciding whether one of their own decisions was obtained by fraud, and that the High Court’s worldwide injunction was “exorbitant”.

Not so fast, said the NZ Supreme Court. In a judgment released today, just 2 working days after the appeal was heard, the NZ Supreme Court allowed the appeal and reinstated the High Court’s worldwide injunction.

Not only is the scope of the injunction exceptional, but so too is the release of such a quick judgment. However, the NZ Supreme Court explained that it felt the need to issue its judgment in short order, given that there are currently live proceedings in both NZ and the US.

However, for anyone looking for a deep dive into the legal justification for such an injunction, you still need to wait. The NZ Supreme Court’s decision is a “result” judgment only, with its reasons to follow at a later date.