Mr Justice Rajah handed down judgment on 7 April 2025 in Okuashvili v Ivanishvili & Ors [2025] EWHC 829 (Ch) upholding jurisdiction challenges brought by Mr Ivanishvili and a number of other defendants, and giving summary judgment in favour of others. The Judge found that (i) various claims sought to be brought in two sets of proceedings against various Georgian individuals do not raise a serious issue to be tried and (ii) the permission to serve out given in the first set of proceedings should be set aside because the Claimants breached their duty of full and frank disclosure in making the without notice application for permission.
The claims relate to Georgian tobacco businesses. The judgment considers whether any of the claims, namely claims for (a) unlawful interference/inducement of breach of contract, intimidation, conspiracy, breach of statutory duty and negligence, (b) breach of contract, (c) breach of fiduciary duty, (d) dishonest assistance and (e) unjust enrichment, raise a serious issue to be tried and whether permission to serve out should be set aside for breach of the duty to give full and frank disclosure. The Judge described the true position in the first set of proceedings as “a world away from the position as it was presented” to the Court on the paper application for permission to serve out. The result of the five day hearing in January 2025 is that the only claims that survive are claims against one of the other defendants (whose contract included a clause giving the courts of England and Wales exclusive jurisdiction) for breach of contractual and fiduciary duties and for restitution of consultancy fees paid to him. None of the claims against Mr Ivanishvili can proceed in England.
The full judgment can be found here.
Louise Hutton KC and Watson Pringle (Maitland Chambers), instructed by Conor Daly and Sarah Rees of Blake Morgan LLP, acted for Mr Ivanishvili.
