On 29 January 2020, the Admiralty Court made an order at the request of the claimant in Qatar National Bank QPSC v Owners of the Yacht Force India [2020] EWHC 103 (Admlty) that the yacht Force India be sold. The circumstances in which the order for the sale was granted were described in a previous post on this blog. See https://iistl.blog/2020/03/09/no-judgment-in-default-of-a-defence-in-in-rem-proceedings-against-an-arrested-ship-unless-the-court-is-satisfied-that-the-claim-has-been-proved/.
After twenty bids had been received by the Admiralty Marshal during the sale process, Qatar National Bank QPSC applied to the Court for an order to set aside the order for the sale. While the Admiralty Court declined to grant such order, it suspended the sale to enable a proper hearing to take place on notice to the interested parties.
On 20 March 2020, the hearing took place by telephone as a result of the COVID19 pandemic, making Qatar National Bank QPSC v Owners of the Yacht Force India [2020] EWHC 719 (Admlty) the first case to be heard by the Admiralty Court remotely.
The Court decided to set aside the order for sale in the present case. That is because an independent third party paid the sums secured by the mortgage. As a result, the judicial sale of the yacht Force India was rendered unnecessary.
It may be worth noting here that the case at hand is exceptional in that the mortgage had been granted as additional security for a €27 million loan to finance the acquisition of a company which owned a property on an island off the coast of France. Thus, when the loan secured by the charge on the property was paid to Qatar National Bank QPSC, the smaller sum secured by the mortgage on the yacht was also discharged.
Indeed, the Admiralty Court emphasised the need for orders setting aside judicial sales of vessels to remain the exception rather than the norm, with a view to protecting its reputation and its ability in future cases to achieve a vessel’s market value when an order for sale is made.