Back in the midst of the pandemic, we blogged about the decision of the Senior Master to shut down the Foreign Process Section of the Queen’s Bench Division. The effect, as we pointed out in a follow-up blog post, was to make it practically impossible to serve abroad in many cases. Can litigants rely on…
Read moreCourt of Appeal: English law governs tort claims for mistreatment at CIA “black sites”
In Zubaydah v Foreign And Commonwealth Office & Ors [2022] EWCA Civ 334, the Court of Appeal considered which law should apply to tort claims against the State based on the Claimant’s extreme mistreatment and torture at “black sites” at the hands of the CIA between 2002 and 2006. Lane J had held that the…
Read moreDefendant’s demand for service was not a submission to the jurisdiction
Next week, we will write about a recent decision on strike out and submission to the court’s jurisdiction. The key practice point is that it is vital for defendants to be crystal clear if they wish to keep jurisdiction in dispute. That is also borne out by the recent decision in Hand Held Products, Inc…
Read moreForum conveniens
We previously wrote about how, following the Supreme Court’s approach in Brownlie II, the likelihood is that “proper forum” disputes will form a major battleground in future international injury litigation. It seems that the first wave of such cases is already arriving, as illustrated by the recent failure of a forum challenge in Klifa v…
Read moreWin for claimant motorcyclist in clash of travel titans
Lambert v Motor Insurers’ Bureau (Rev1) [2022] EWHC 583 (QB) was something of a travel law Who’s Who. Philip Mead acted for the Claimant, Lucy Wyles QC represented the Defendant, with Sarah Crowther QC judging (in what I believe was her first trial sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge), and President of PEOPIL Ana…
Read moreCross-border clinical negligence claims
There are few cases dealing with breach of duty in cross-border clinical negligence litigation. However, the rising number of claims arising out of botched cosmetic surgery carried out abroad means that this is an issue of increasing significance. Clarke v Kalecinski & Ors [2022] EWHC 488 (QB) is an interesting and timely decision. Foster J…
Read moreTour operator delay in providing refunds breached Package Travel Regulations
James Beeton
This week, defunct tour operators Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms.com were declared to have breached the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for their delay in providing refunds for holidays cancelled by COVID-19. The judgment, in a claim brought by the Competition and Markets Authority against two tour operators, will also be of collateral interest to travel practitioners. Unusually,…
Read morePermission to appeal costs capping refusal denied in Malawian tea plantation litigation
We previously blogged about Cavanagh J’s refusal to impose a costs capping order in Thomas & Ors v PGI Group Ltd [2021] EWHC 2776 (QB). That decision has now been endorsed by Coulson LJ, who refused permission to appeal in a recent decision available here. Kate Boakes is one of the counsel team representing the Claimants.
Read moreCase management of foreign law disputes after Brownlie
The Commercial Court has just released its 2022 Guide (found here). The new focus on the post-Brownlie approach to foreign law disputes is immediately mentioned in the Introduction: There are two other areas to which the judges of the Court would particularly draw attention. The first is the consideration which is given to the options…
Read moreThe Montreal Convention and the “fifth jurisdiction”
In Akulinina and Kondrashova -v- Ifly S.A. the High Court considered, for the first time, the jurisdiction provisions in Article 33(2) of the Montreal Convention. These provisions are often referred to as providing the Convention’s “fifth jurisdiction” (being an additional basis of jurisdiction beyond the four identified in Article 33(1)). Spencer Turner considers the important…
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