Background facts
17 I will now outline some additional background facts, based on the material currently before the Court.
18 On 5 September 2023, GBAG, the Insolvency Administrator, Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd entered into a confidential Standstill Deed to toll limitation periods in respect of certain claims that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator may have against Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd, including claims relating to the GBAG Proceedings (the Standstill Deed).
19 On 7 November 2023, the applicants in the Credit Suisse Proceedings filed an amended statement of claim joining Marsh Limited as a respondent.
20 On 2 July 2024, Ms Fox wrote to Christopher Foster of Holman Fenwick Willan LLP (HFW) London, terminating the Standstill Deed and communicating GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator's intention to join Marsh Limited to the GBAG Proceedings.
21 As indicated above, on 29 July 2024, Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd brought the Anti-suit Application in the English Court, seeking an urgent ex parte interim anti-suit injunction and a final prohibitory injunction to restrain GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator from bringing proceedings in Australia against Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd in relation to certain engagements and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with their engagements.
22 The Anti-suit Application was largely based on an English exclusive jurisdiction clause that appears in engagement agreements between Marsh Limited and GCUK. GBAG is not a party to the engagement agreements but it was contended by Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd that GBAG was bound by the exclusive jurisdiction clause in those agreements as an affiliate of GCUK. In her first affidavit at paragraph 4(i), Ms Fox states that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator dispute that claim.
23 As indicated above, on 30 July 2024, Marsh Limited obtained the Interim Orders. Marsh Pty Ltd did not succeed in obtaining any interim orders. The Interim Orders included:
3. Until the Return Date or further Order of this Court, the Defendants [i.e. GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator] and each of them shall refrain from taking any steps to initiate or bring any claim(s) against the First Claimant [i.e. Marsh Limited] in Australia, in relation to the Engagements contained in or evidenced by Letters of Engagement dated 3 March 2017 and/or 27 March 2018 and/or 18 April 2018 and/or 27 March 2019 and/or 1 March 2020 and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with those Engagements, whether by commencing fresh proceedings or by joining the First Claimant to existing proceedings in Australia, particularly by joining the First Claimant to any of the following proceedings which are currently underway in the Federal Court of Australia (collectively, the "Australian Proceedings"):
a. Greensill Bank AG & Anor. v Insurance Australia Limited & Ors., Federal Court of Australia, court reference NSD 1216/2021 (the "EHG proceeding");
b. Greensill Bank AG & Anor. v Insurance Australia Limited & Ors., Federal Court of Australia, court reference NSD 173/2023 (the "Atlantic 57 proceeding");
c. Greensill Bank AG & Anor. v Insurance Australia Limited & Ors., Federal Court of Australia, court reference NSD 174/2023 (the "Bluestone proceeding");
d. Greensill Bank AG & Anor. v Insurance Australia Limited & Ors., Federal Court of Australia, court reference NSD 175/2023 (the "LCL proceeding");
e. Greensill Bank AG & Anor. v Insurance Australia Limited & Ors., Federal Court of Australia, court reference NSD 177/2023 (the "Simec proceeding");
f. Greensill Bank AG & Anor. v Insurance Australia Limited & Ors., Federal Court of Australia, court reference NSD 602/2023 (the "Liberty Delta proceeding").
24 The material before the Court includes the transcript of the hearing on 30 July 2024 before the Honourable Mrs Justice Cockerill DBE. Her reasons for not granting the application in relation to Marsh Pty Ltd included (transcript, p 45):
I am not going to grant the injunction in relation to C2 [i.e. Marsh Pty Ltd]. The brief reasons for that, just so that you know where any judgment for the purposes of appeal would go, is you are in a position where you are not able to say that there is a clause as such and, therefore, there is no breach. You are also in a position at the moment where there is no explicit threat, which is very different to the position in relation to C1 [i.e. Marsh Limited] and it is arguable that the standstill agreement remains in place.
25 As indicated above, GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator contend that, in seeking (and preparing to seek) ex parte interim relief before the English Court, Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd used documents and information that were disclosed by GBAG to Marsh Limited by way of discovery in the Credit Suisse Proceedings. GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator contend that the relevant documents and information were (and are) subject to the implied undertaking.
26 Ms Fox states in her first affidavit that HFW (solicitors for Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd) have confirmed that they reviewed over 14,000 documents in preparation for the Anti-suit Application, a significant proportion of which Ms Fox believes were disclosed to Marsh Limited by GBAG by way of discovery in the Credit Suisse Proceedings.
27 Ms Fox states in her first affidavit that, given that Marsh Pty Ltd is not a party to any of the Greensill Proceedings, it appears that Marsh Limited provided GBAG's discovered documents to Marsh Pty Ltd for the purpose of Marsh Pty Ltd preparing to seek, and seeking, ex parte interim anti-suit relief before the English Court. Ms Fox states that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator take the position that, by receiving GBAG's discovered material, Marsh Pty Ltd itself became subject to the same substantive obligations underpinning the implied undertaking as Marsh Limited.
28 The material before the Court on the present application includes the Skeleton Argument for the Claimants (i.e. Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd) in support of the Anti-suit Application (the Skeleton Argument) and the first witness statement of Mr Foster (dated 26 July 2024) in support of that application (Foster Witness Statement). It appears that 15 documents that were discovered by GBAG to Marsh Limited in the Credit Suisse Proceedings were specifically referred to by Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd in the Skeleton Argument or the Foster Witness Statement or both. For example:
(a) At paragraph 27 of the Foster Witness Statement, reference is made to three service level agreements between GCUK and GBAG. It appears from Ms Fox's affidavit that these are discovered documents (i.e. documents discovered by GBAG to Marsh Limited in the Credit Suisse Proceedings). These documents are relied on in the Skeleton Argument at paragraphs 17.1, 72.3 and 74.3.
(b) At paragraph 66 of the Foster Witness Statement (specifically, in sub-paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (e), (f) and (g)), six documents are referred to that Ms Fox states are discovered documents. It appears that these documents were relied on in support of the proposition (articulated in the first sentence of paragraph 66 of the Foster Witness Statement) that the existence of a broker-client relationship between Marsh Limited and GBAG had been consistently acknowledge by GBAG. See also the Skeleton Argument at paragraph 19.4.
29 Ms Fox states in her first affidavit that neither Marsh Limited nor Marsh Pty Ltd sought or obtained a release from the implied undertaking, or the leave of this Court, before using GBAG's discovered documents and information in their ex parte application to the English Court; nor did they disclose to the English Court the provenance of the discovered documents used in the Anti-suit Application or that there may be a controversy about whether a release was required, or would be granted, before their use in that application.
30 Ms Fox states in her affidavit (based on correspondence between the parties) that Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd deny that they breached the implied undertaking or their duty of full and frank disclosure on the ex parte application. In summary, Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd say that they were obliged to make proper inquiries about the matters contained in documents discovered in Australia and to bring various matters contained in them to the English Court's attention to ensure the full and frank disclosure obligation was complied with (including by using the relevant documents); Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd say that the implied undertaking yields to their obligations to the English Court on an ex parte application and also to the requirements of the English Court's practice note in that regard.
31 GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator have sought to agitate their position as to Marsh Limited's and Marsh Pty Ltd's alleged breaches of the implied undertaking and alleged material non-disclosure before the English Court. On 23 August 2024, GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator sought a bifurcated hearing with a view to first ventilating their position as to the alleged non-disclosure, but the request for bifurcation was not granted.
32 As indicated above, the Anti-suit Application has been listed for a return hearing on 20 and 21 November 2024 (the Return Date Hearing) for the determination of whether the Interim Orders should continue until the final hearing. Ms Fox states in her first affidavit that the Return Date Hearing will likely involve consideration of three principal issues:
(a) whether Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd have breached their obligations of full and frank disclosure by not disclosing the provenance of the discovered documents and the potential controversy around their use;
(b) whether Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd can establish to the necessary "high degree of probability" that there is a jurisdiction agreement binding on GBAG that governs the dispute; and
(c) if the English Court is satisfied as to (b), whether there are "strong reasons" why the Court should not otherwise restrain the commencement of proceedings in breach of the English exclusive jurisdiction clause.
33 As indicated above, if Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd are successful at the Return Date Hearing, there would need to be a final hearing for a permanent anti-suit injunction on a date that is yet to be set. Ms Fox states in her first affidavit that this is unlikely to occur until early 2026 (given current indications as to lead times in the English Court).
34 Ms Fox states in her first affidavit that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator have likely been irreparably prejudiced by Marsh Limited's and Marsh Pty Ltd's conduct. She summarises this in paragraph 4(u) of her first affidavit (references in the affidavit to "Marsh" cover both Marsh Limited and Marsh Pty Ltd):
Although GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator will seek to ventilate the issues around the Harman undertaking at the Return Date Hearing in England, they have likely been irreparably prejudiced by Marsh's conduct. That prejudice can be summarised this way:
(i) By electing not to seek a release of Harman obligations, Marsh ensured that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator would not have sufficient warning or notice of the Anti-suit Application to seek anti-anti-suit relief in Australia prior to the Interim Orders being made in England. According to the Foster Witness Statement, Marsh's advice was that there was a substantial risk of such relief being granted.
(ii) The consequence is that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator are currently precluded from seeking to join Marsh Limited to the GBAG Proceedings.
(iii) There is a real risk that Marsh will succeed in extending the Interim Orders on 20 November 2024, and may succeed in obtaining permanent anti-suit relief against GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator.
(iv) If that occurs there is a real risk that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator will be precluded from ventilating a claim for misleading or deceptive conduct against at least Marsh Limited under Australian Law.
35 Ms Fox further explains the reasons for the present application in the following paragraphs of her first affidavit:
5. Furthermore, if the position of GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator is correct, Marsh and its solicitors have obtained information and knowledge from a substantial volume of documents disclosed by GBAG, and used that information and knowledge for a collateral purpose, which cannot be undone or unknown. In continuing to advance their position on the Anti-suit Application, Marsh are benefiting from the knowledge and information that has been improperly used.
6. GBAG now brings this application to remedy its prejudice by precluding the use of the impugned documents and information and restraining both Marsh entities from further pursuing any anti-suit relief in the English Court (or any other court), in effect, in light of the breaches of the Harman undertaking and the obligations to the Court, GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator seek an anti-anti-suit injunction based largely on the protection of the Court's processes. If an anti-anti-suit order is not granted, there is a real risk that GBAG and the Insolvency Administrator will be enjoined from bringing proceedings against the Marsh entities in Australia, such injunction being premised on a breach of the Harman undertaking.