Offshore Litigator's Perspective - Q3 2020

Welcome to our quarterly Litigation round up, which brings you Mourant's perspective on legal developments that we see in our work advising on many of the most challenging and complex cases in the offshore courts.

It's been a busy summer, especially as we're beginning to see some of the fall-out from the economic effects of COVID-19. We've put together a wealth of new insights and updates to guide you through all of the recent developments, which we hope you will find interesting. Some highlights in the last quarter include:

Updated Guides on "what a creditor needs to know about liquidating insolvent BVI and Cayman companies".

Links to Jersey-focused articles published in the eprivateclient and ThoughtLeaders4 Private Client publications respectively, analyzing the duties of an outgoing trustee regarding disclosure of trust records to a new trustee; and examining the extraterritorial effect of certain Jersey legislation, of which trustees need to remain mindful when administering trust assets, even outside of Jersey.

Updates on virtual assets in the Caribbean, in the form of new legislation in Cayman and new regulations in the BVI, both designed to bring certainty and increased regulatory oversight into this burgeoning and exciting new area.

Some detailed and thoughtful examinations of two interesting Cayman s.238 fair value cases: Qihoo – in which the Grand Court refused to make a series of legal presumptions regarding the determination of fair value in appraisal proceedings, instead leaving all such determinations to the trial judge to make, having heard all the evidence and argument of the parties and so being able to take proper regard of all of the circumstances of the case; and Trina Solar – the first case to consider the impact of the Privy Council's decision in Shanda Games. The case confirms that the Court will not be hamstrung by any particular valuation methodology and will instead use whichever methodology it deems most appropriate.

Finally, we have been busy hosting various webinars and recordings of these events can be found on our website. These include:

• Our "Receiverships Unpacked" video podcast series. A short set of Q&As aimed at providing you with a snapshot of some of the key considerations to keep in mind when it comes to receiverships.
• Our joint webinar with the TMA UK on making the most of the offshore aspects from a UK perspective.
• Our Trusts in Crisis webinar series – in which our Guernsey team examine various challenging scenarios that trusts and trustees can face.

Our joint webinar series with South Square is ongoing and the next, and final, session takes place on 28 October. Click here for more information on the agenda and to register for the event. If you've missed any of the earlier sessions, they're all available on our website and can be watched at any convenient time by following this link.