The insurance company appealed against refusal of the court to decline to enforce a judgment entered against it by the courts of North Korea. It had argued that the insurance policy had been obtained by fraud of the NK government, and that the court was not independent of NK. The court had found the defence non-justiciable.
Held: The judge had made his order without advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He should not have done so. ‘There is no general rule that if an allegation might embarrass a foreign sovereign it follows that that will also embarrass diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom and that thus such embarrassing issues are non-justiciable.’ Nevertheless allegations of fraud against a head of state were particularly serious, and the court might consider whether the case could be repleaded to avoid the non-justiciability issue.
Waller LJ, Rix LJ, Thomas LJ
[2008] EWCA Civ 1355, Times 22-Dec-2008, [2009] Lloyd’s Rep IR 480, [2008] 2 CLC 837, [2009] Bus LR D59
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Korea National Insurance Company v Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty Ag ComC 18-Nov-2008
The claimant sought to enforce a judgment for payment of a sum under a policy of insurance. The defendant sought to refuse saying that the policy had been instigated by a fraud perpetrated by the state of North Korea, and or that the judicial system . .
Cited – Kuwait Airways Corporation v Iraqi Airways Company (Conjoined Appeals 4 and 5) CA 10-Nov-2000
If a foreign made law was in breach of clearly established international law, then an English court should not recognise it. To do otherwise would be contrary to public policy. An interference with goods pursuant to such a law was actionable in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 September 2021; Ref: scu.278525
