UK: Court Of Appeal Considers Whether Directors Can Still Be Held Liable For Civil Contempt In Respect Of Orders Made Against Their Companies

Issue arose because of a change a few years ago in the English Civil Procedure Rules

When the Civil Procedure Rule provisions on contempt were entirely replaced in 2020 by a simplified and reduced rule (Part 81), one of the changes was the removal of the rule that "If the person [who has breached a court order or judgment] is a company or other corporation, the committal order may be made against any director or other officer of that company or corporation."

Did that change mean directors can no longer be held liable for their companies' breaches of orders?

That was the key issue before the Court of Appeal in ADM International SarL v Grain House International SA & Anor and it concluded that this issue is a point of substantive, and not procedural, law and so was unaffected by the 2020 changes.

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