Author: Rory Mather

The Gateway came into effect on 1st October 2022.

Author: Rory Mather

The purpose of the Gateway is to assist victims of cryptocurrency fraud with jurisdictional issues. This will help bring claims against alleged fraudsters based outside of the jurisdiction of England and Wales.

Previously, claimants were susceptible to a number of jurisdictional pitfalls when pursuing claims in England and Wales. For example, claimants were unable to serve a type of disclosure order (called a Norwich Pharmacal Order) outside of the jurisdiction under CPR Practice Direction 6B. In addition, a Bankers Trust Order, another type of disclosure order, which can be served outside of the jurisdiction, required claimants to first issue a proprietary claim against the alleged fraudsters thereby incurring a significant issue fee.

The New Gateway
CPR PRACTICE DIRECTION 6B – SERVICE OUT OF THE JURISDICTION
Information orders against non-parties
(25) A claim or application is made for disclosure in order to obtain information-
(a) regarding;
(i) the true identity of a defendant or potential defendant; and/or
(ii) what has become of the property of a claimant or applicant; and
(b) the claim or application is made for the purpose of proceedings already commenced or which, subject to the content of the information received, are intended to be commended either by service in England and Wales or pursuant to CPR rule 6.32, 6.33 or 6.36.
In a welcome move designed to address the issues identified above, the new Gateway under CPR Practice Direction 6B allows applications for permission to serve out of the jurisdiction of a Part 8 claim for disclosure of information regarding the true identify of a potential defendant or what has become of the Claimant’s property for the purpose of supporting proceedings already commenced or are intended to be commenced. Crucially, this would not require the claimant to first commence proceedings against persons unknown.

Comment
The new Gateway is good news for claimants, who now have greater help with obtaining critical information about alleged fraudsters. In particular, where their identities are unknown and they are located outside of the jurisdiction before proceedings are issued.

Armed with this information, claimants will be better informed about the likelihood of making a successful recovery, should they choose to issue proceedings.