Anti Suit Injunction

Anti Suit Injunction in Maritime Law

Note: There is more information on maritime/admiralty law here.

The following is a definition of Anti Suit Injunction, produced by Tetley, in the context of admiralty law: An extraordinary procedure where a court issues an order to the effect that proceedings in a second jurisdiction should not proceed. The injunction is usually 1) based on the principle of forum non conveniens (see this maritime law term in this legal dictionary); and requires 2) that the first court is more convenient to the parties; 3) a motion of forum non conveniens has been made in the second jurisdiction and has failed; and 4) that the complainant will not be unduly disadvantaged by proceeding in the first jurisdiction. Examples of the injunction are cases where real (immoveable) property in the first jurisdiction is involved or where there is a jurisdiction clause or arbitration clause calling for proceedings in the first jurisdiction or where a law of the first jurisdiction specifically forbids suit on a certain subject, e.g. claims for damages caused by asbestos produced in the first jurisdiction. See Amchem Products v. B.C. Workers Compensation Board [1993] 1 S.C.R. 897, (1993) 102 D.L.R. (4th) 96; Opron Inc. v. Aero Systems Engineering, [1999] R.J.Q. 757 (Quebec Superior Court); Donohue v. Armco Inc. [2002] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 425 (H.L.). See Tetley, Int’l. M. & A. L., 2003 at pp. 414-415. The Court of Justice of the European Communities, in Turner v. Grovit [2004] 2 Lloyd’s 169 (E.C.J.), Case No. C159/02, held that the Brussels Convention 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters is to be interpreted as precluding the grant of an injunction whereby a court of a Contracting State of that Convention prohibits a party to proceedings pending before it from commencing or continuing legal proceedings before a court of another Contracting State, even where that party is acting in bad faith with a view to frustrating the existing proceedings. N.B.: In consequence, English courts may no longer issue anti-suit injunctions to prohibit proceedings in courts of other Member States of the European Union.