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Delay alone defeats anti-suit injunction.

Deliberate, unexplained, inordinate and culpable delay without detriment or prejudice defeats injunction.

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has held that delay alone, without detriment or prejudice, can defeat an application for an anti-suit injunction, particularly where the delay was deliberate, unexplained, inordinate and culpable. Ship owners had deliberately delayed more than three months in seeking an anti-suit injunction in Hong Kong against proceedings in mainland China even though they had challenged jurisdiction in those proceedings: Sea Powerful II Special Maritime Enterprises (ENE) v Bank of China Ltd [2016] FICR 29.

Read the full head note here.