Admission of the request for ancillary intervention filed on appeal

Facts

The dispute concerns a request for ancillary intervention filed on appeal in the context of provisional measures proceedings. Company A. SA, mentioned in the annex to the temporary restraining orders (Temporary Orders) issued by the District Court of Harris County (Texas/USA), filed a request for intervention with the Court of Justice of the Canton of Geneva, which was rejected. A. SA then appealed the decision to the Federal Tribunal.

The Federal Tribunal upheld the appeal and amended the order of the Court of Justice, in the sense that the request for intervention filed by A. SA is admitted.

Considerations

According to the Federal Tribunal, ancillary intervention is possible at any stage of the proceedings, including on appeal or in the limited appeal on points of law. Art. 74 CPC constitutes a special norm that derogates from the principle of double instance set out in Art. 75 para. 2 LTF.

To admit ancillary intervention, it is sufficient that the intervening party renders plausible a legal interest in the pending dispute being decided in favor of one of the parties. A purely factual or economic interest is not sufficient. In the present case, the freezing of the appellant's bank account, which temporarily deprives…