ECJ (Judgment) A West Tankers ship damaged a jetty in Syracuse. An agreement provided for an arbitration in London. The insurers having paid out brought a subrogated action in Italy. West Tankers sought an order in England to restrain the Italian proceedings because of the arbitration agreement.
Held: It was not open to the courts of one country to seek to restrain those of another on the basis of such an arbitration agreement. Where the subject matter under dispute might come within the regulations, a preliminary application also came within the regulations. It was for each court to determine for itself which matters fell under its jurisdiction.
‘the court finds, as noted by the Advocate General in paras 53 and 54 of her opinion, that if, because of the subject matter of the dispute, that is, the nature of the rights to be protected in proceedings, such as a claim for damages, those proceedings come within the scope of Regulation No 44/2001, a preliminary issue concerning the applicability of an arbitration agreement, including in particular its validity, also comes within its scope of application.’
Judges:
V Skouris, President and Judges P. Jann, C. W. A. Timmermans, A. Rosas, K. Lenaerts, A. O Caoimh, P. Kuris, E. Juhasz, G. Arestis, A. Borg Barthet, J. Klucka, E. Levits and L. Bay Larsen Advocate General J. Kokott
Citations:
[2009] EUECJ C-185/07, C-185/07, [2009] 3 WLR 696, [2009] ILPr 20, [2009] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 413, [2009] 1 All ER (Comm) 435, [2009] All ER (EC) 491, [2009] 1 CLC 96, [2009] 1 AC 1138
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
European
Citing:
Opinion – Allianz Spa (Anciennement Riunione Adriatica Di Sicurta) v West Tankers Inc (Judgments Convention/Enforcement of Judgments) (‘the Front Comor’) ECJ 4-Sep-2008
Europa (Opinion) Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 Scope Arbitration Order restraining a person from commencing or continuing proceedings before the national courts of another Member State instead of before an arbitral . .
At High Court – West Tankers Inc v Ras Riunione Adriatica Di Sicurta Spa and Another (‘The Front Comor’) ComC 21-Mar-2005
Appeal against anti-suit order. The court ordered that since the question of whether an anti-suit injunction could be made to restrain proceedings abroad had been decided in Through Transport, that issue could go straight to the House of Lords. . .
At House of Lords – West Tankers Inc v Ras Riunione Adriatica Di Sicurta Spa and others (The Front Comor) HL 21-Feb-2007
A ship had foundered, and the owners disputed their insurance claim. The policy provided for arbitration in London, and one party sought an order to prevent the other commencing proceedings in another EU state in breach of the arbitration agreement. . .
Cited – Erich Gasser GmbH v MISAT Srl ECJ 9-Dec-2003
The claimant Austrian company had for many years sold goods to the defendant an Italian company. Eventually it presented a claim before the court in Italy. Having obtained judgement, it later sought to enforce the order through the Austrian court . .
Cited – Turner v Grovit ECJ 27-Apr-2004
The claimant had been employed as a solicitor by the respondent at locations across Europe, and came to claim in England that they had wrongly implicated him in unlawful activity. The company sought to issue proceedings in Spain.
Held: The . .
Cited by:
Cited – Clyde and Co Llp and Another v Winkelhof QBD 22-Mar-2011
The claimant firm of solicitors sought an order requiring the defendant to amend her employment tribunal claim so as to accord with the partnership agreement to which she was party, and to submit to arbitration. The defendant said that statutory . .
Cited – AMT Futures Ltd v Marzillier and Others SC 1-Mar-2017
AMT entered into many financial services agreements providing for exclusive EW jurisdiction. It now sought to restrain the defendant German lawyers from encouraging litigation in Germany saying that induced breaches of the contracts. It also sought . .
Cited – Soleymani v Nifty Gateway Llc ComC 24-Mar-2022
Arbitration jurisdiction applications stayed
The claimant sought declaratory relief as to the basis of a purchase after he placed a bid for a blockchain-based non-fungible token (also known as an NFT) associated with an artwork by the artist known as Beeple titled ‘Abundance’. The court was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Jurisdiction
Updated: 03 April 2022; Ref: scu.332839