Non-compliance with a contract’s jurisdiction clause may expose a claimant to a claim for damages in Germany. This has been decided by Germany’s highest civil court, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof), in what can be considered a landmark decision. Where the parties agree on German law and opt for the exclusive jurisdiction of … Read more

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has handed down a decision that potentially increases the scope for parties in non-US legal proceedings to use the US courts to access evidence held by US-connected entities, even if that evidence is not located in the US: Re Application of Antonio Del Valle Ruiz 18-3226 … Read more

As we approach the deadline of 31 October, it is difficult to predict what will happen. But the prospect of a no-deal Brexit – either then or at some later date – remains a very real possibility. In this blog post we consider the implications of such an outcome for commercial litigation involving the English … Read more

The Supreme Court has held that the English courts did not have exclusive jurisdiction to hear certain claims brought by an English subsidiary company against Turkish domiciled defendants, including its parent company: Akcil v Koza Ltd [2019] UKSC 40. The judgment overturns the decision of the Court of Appeal and narrowly interprets article 24(2) of … Read more

The High Court has held that England was the proper forum to determine a dispute against an additional defendant, so as to avoid multiple proceedings and the risk of irreconcilable judgments. The defendant was a necessary or proper party to the claims made against the anchor defendants and the claimant had no real choice where … Read more

The Court of Appeal has partly upheld the injunction granted by the Commercial Court restraining the pursuit of arbitration proceedings seated in Lebanon: Sabbagh v Khoury and others [2019] EWCA Civ 1219. In doing so, it confirmed the power of English courts to restrain a foreign arbitration on grounds that the foreign arbitration is oppressive … Read more

The High Court has held that there is no power under the recast Brussels Regulation to stay English proceedings against an English domiciled defendant in favour of proceedings in a non-EU court commenced pursuant to an exclusive jurisdiction agreement in favour of that court, unless the foreign proceedings were commenced before the English proceedings: Gulf … Read more