Agrégateur de flux

[2019] EWHC 724 (Comm) ArcelorMittal USA LLC v Essar Steel Limited and others is quite the highlight in worldwide regulatory competition for championing arbitration.

As 20 Essex Street note, Jacobs J refused to vary an earlier worldwide freezing order (WFO), despite the award being foreign, Claimant and Defendant companies being foreign, there being no significant assets within the jurisdiction, and the courts at Mauritius (defendant is Mauritius-incorporated, defendant to the Arbitration Claim, and the debtor under the ICC award) potentially feeling gazumped by their English colleagues.

Of note over and above Essex Street’s analysis is

• the defendants urging the Court on the grounds of comity (no need for the English courts to act at policeman for assets located abroad: at 72, referring to Popplewell J. in Conocophillips China Inc v Greka Energy (International) BV. [2013] EWHC 2733) to resist the call for a WFO. This was rejected (at 81) with the argument ‘I consider that I am entitled to proceed on the basis of the evidence that the Mauritian courts would not regard the WFO as offensive in some way.’; and ‘The WFO does not presently conflict with any order of the Mauritian courts, and this is not a case where the Mauritian courts have refused equivalent relief or where there is evidence that those courts would be likely to do so.’ Jacobs J therefore does consider comity quite carefully.

• the Court’s sense of urgency in what it sees as a case of fraus: At 45:

‘There is no precise definition of what is meant by the phrase “international fraud” found in the case-law, but I do not consider that it is confined to cases where the underlying cause of action is a claim in deceit or a proprietary claim relating to the theft of assets. If there is a strong case of serious wrongdoing comprising conduct on a large or repeated scale whereby a company, or the group of which it is a member, is acting in a manner prejudicial to its creditors, and in bad faith, then I see no reason why the English court should not be willing to intervene rather than to stand by and allow the conduct to continue and, to put the matter colloquially, to let the wrongdoer get away with it. In the present case, I would regard the attempted dissipation of Essar Steel’s US$ 1.5 billion asset, in the face of the commencement of arbitration proceedings, as sufficient in itself potentially to warrant intervention under the “international fraud” exception, or as constituting “exceptional circumstances”.’

• and the rejection at 73 of a CJEU C-391/95 Van Uden type of restraint, requiring a real connecting link between the subject matter of the measures sought and the territorial jurisdiction of the English court.

Geert.

The Max Planck Institute Luxembourg has launched a call for applications for PhD scholarships in 2020. Advanced doctoral students working in comparative procedural law, international procedural law and adjudication are invited to apply by 31 May 2019. While proficiency in English is compulsory, the call is also open to doctoral candidates writing their thesis in a language other than English.

The scholarship offers young scientists the opportunity to stimulate their scientific inspiration and advance their research in a dynamic environment. In addition to a monthly grant of 1.500 €, the selected candidates will be offered a workstation in the reading room, and will have the opportunity to participate in the Institute’s scientific activities.

More information about the call is available here.

Pourvoi c/ Cour d'appel de Versailles, 8e chambre des appels correctionnels, 20 février 2019

Pourvoi c/ Cour d'appel de Toulouse, 19 octobre 2018

The final conference for the EU-funded IC2BE project will take place in Antwerp on 21 and 22 November 2019.

This project is the follow-up of the EUPILLAR project, which was concluded in 2016.

IC2BE investigates in eight Member States the application of the European Private International Law Instruments of the second generation, i.e. the unified procedures for cross-border enforcement. The discussed regulations include the European Enforcement Order (805/2004), European Payment Order (1896/2006), the European Small Claims Procedure (861/2007) and Account Preservation Order (655/2014).

The research is coordinated by the University of Freiburg and carried out by a consortium consisting of the Max-Planck-Institute Luxembourg and the Universities of Antwerp, Madrid (Complutense), Milan, Rotterdam and Wroclaw. The investigated Member States are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. The case law of the Court of Justice of the EU is also analysed.

The research method combined setting up a database of case law and interviews with lawyers, judges, businesses and consumer organisations. The case law database  (not yet complete) is available here.

The conference will discuss the specific problems that these procedures raise and look into the perspectives for a more coherent European system of cross-border enforcement. Speakers will include the project researchers, distinguished academics, policy makers and stakeholders such as judges, lawyers, businesses and consumer organisations. Confirmed speakers include Paul Beaumont, Gilles Cuniberti, Burkhard Hess, Xandra Kramer and Jan von Hein.

More information, including the draft programme is available here. Registration will be possible on this page soon, but please save the date in the mean time!

Par une décision du 4 avril 2019, la première chambre civile refuse de transmettre au Conseil constitutionnel une question prioritaire de constitutionnalité relative au régime du certificat de nationalité française.

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