Companies Act 2014 section 53

Enforcement of orders and judgments against companies and their officers

Section 53 sets out how court judgments or orders that a company has wilfully disobeyed can be enforced, including enforcement against the personal property or persons of the company's directors and officers.

• Where a company wilfully disobeys a court judgment or order, the court may permit enforcement by sequestration of the company's property, attachment against directors or officers, or sequestration of directors' or officers' property.
• Enforcement against directors or officers personally is only possible if the original court judgment or order contained a warning that those individuals or their property could be subject to attachment or sequestration if the company disobeyed.
• This provision elevates into primary legislation a principle previously found only in court procedural rules, reflecting its importance as an exception to the separate legal personality of a company.
• The terms "attachment" and "sequestration" carry the same meaning as in the rules of court governing the High Court and Supreme Court.