Cite as: 527 U. S. 308 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
attachment and garnishment statutes when this all-purpose prejudgment injunction is available? More importantly, by adding, through judicial fiat, a new and powerful weapon to the creditor's arsenal, the new rule could radically alter the balance between debtor's and creditor's rights which has been developed over centuries through many laws— including those relating to bankruptcy, fraudulent conveyances, and preferences. Because any rational creditor would want to protect his investment, such a remedy might induce creditors to engage in a "race to the courthouse" in cases involving insolvent or near-insolvent debtors, which might prove financially fatal to the struggling debtor. (In this case, we might observe, the respondents did not represent all of the holders of the Notes; they were an active few who sought to benefit at the expense of the other noteholders as well as GMD's other creditors.11) It is significant that, in England, use of the Mareva injunction has expanded rapidly. "Since 1975, the English courts have awarded Mareva injunctions to freeze assets in an ever-increasing set of circumstances both within and beyond the commercial setting to an ever-expanding number of plaintiffs." Wasserman, supra, at 339. As early as 1984, one observer stated that "[t]here are now a steady flow of such applications to our Courts which have been estimated to exceed one thou-11 Justice Ginsburg suggests that respondents acted to benefit all of GMD's creditors. See post, at 341, n. 6. But respondents' complaint sought the full amount they were allegedly owed, despite their contention that petitioners could not pay all their creditors. It is not clear that the "trust in compliance with Mexican law" that respondents proposed as a possible preliminary remedy, ibid., was to be for the benefit of all creditors, rather than respondents alone—but that remedy was in any event denied, which did not deter respondents from seeking a simple freeze on assets to satisfy their anticipated judgment. There is nothing whatever wrong with respondents' pursuing their own interests. Indeed, the fact that it is entirely proper and entirely predictable is the very premise of the point we are making: that this new remedy will promote unregulated competition among the creditors of a struggling debtor.
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