The claimant brought proceedings in Switzerland (a party to the Lugano Convention) against the defendant who was domiciled in England, alleging that he had conspired with one of the claimant’s employees to misappropriate some US$ 21 million. It was conceded that there was a good arguable case against Mr Cuoghi, which would have justified worldwide Mareva relief if the action had been brought in England. Mr Cuoghi relied on earlier decisions in support of his argument that Mareva relief should be confined to his assets in England and Wales. No criterion or guide line is provided as to the test to be applied by the court in considering whether it is inexpedient to grant an order under the Act. ‘It is the ancillary or subordinate nature of the jurisdiction rather than its source which is material, and the test is one of expediency. The structure of sub-sections (1) and (2) and the way in which their scope has been progressively widened indicate . . an intention on the part of Parliament that the English courts should in principle be willing to grant appropriate interim relief in support of substantive proceedings taking place elsewhere, and that it should not be deterred from doing so by the fact that its role is only an ancillary one unless the circumstances of the particular case make the grant of such relief inexpedient.’
Judges:
Millett LJ
Citations:
Times 03-Jul-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1831, [1998] QB 818
Statutes:
Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 25
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Motorola Credit Corporation v Uzan and others (No 2) CA 12-Jun-2003
World-wide freezing orders had been made under the 1982 Act. The defendants were members of a Turkish family with substantial business interests in the telecommunications industry. In breach of orders made in the US some defendants had sought to . .
Cited – BAS Capital Funding Corporation, Deutsche Bank Ag London, Paine Webber Capital Inc, PW Exe Lp, Pw Partners 1999 Lp v Medfinco Limited, Abacus Holdings Limited, Andreas W Gerdes, HTC Inc, etc ChD 25-Jul-2003
The claimants wanted to bring actions in respect of various matters under shareholders agreements in complex international joint ventures. Leave was given to serve English proceedings in Malta, and the claim form and particulars of claim were faxed . .
Cited – ETI Euro Telecom International Nv v Republic of Bolivia and Another CA 28-Jul-2008
The parties were involved in an international investment dispute arbitration. An injunction had been sought to prevent repatriation of assets to Bolivia.
Held: The international system of arbitration was not subject to any national law and did . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice, Jurisdiction
Updated: 19 November 2022; Ref: scu.183509