Description

About the Event

In comparison to other types of equitable injunctive relief, anti-suit injunctions have attracted more controversy because their indirect interference with the adjudicatory jurisdiction of other states is more prominent. Back in January 2012, in Star Reefers Pool Inc v JFC Group Co Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 14, Rix LJ famously used the term ‘egoistic paternalism’ to describe the willingness of the English courts to grant an anti-suit injunction in circumstances where: (i) there is no breach of a exclusive jurisdiction or arbitration agreement; (ii) the foreign proceedings are commenced first by the respondent; (iii) the respondent has a legitimate juridical advantage in seeking to litigate in the foreign court; and (iv) the respondent has not submitted to the English court’s jurisdiction. The seminar will explore the overarching question of whether the current scope of anti-suit injunctions involves any illegitimate exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction. The principle of international comity and, to a lesser extent, the concept of legitimate expectations have been used by the English courts to delineate the boundaries of extraterritorial injunctions. The theoretical foundations of comity and legitimate expectations will be considered in order to determine the extent to which they can continue to play a useful role in controlling any temptation to encroach upon the regulatory authority of foreign states.

About the Speaker

Dr Filip Saranovic is a Senior Lecturer in Shipping Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. He is the Director of the International Shipping Law LLM programme. Filip is the module convenor and lecturer for four maritime law modules, covering both wet and dry shipping as well as the conflict of laws and enforcement of maritime claims. Filip’s book. Freezing Injunctions in Private International Law, was published by Cambridge University Press in October 2022. The book is based on his doctoral thesis completed at the University of Cambridge. Part of the research for the book was conducted in the United States where he was a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School. Filip is an Ordinary Member of the European Association of Private International Law and has presented his research at numerous conferences both in the UK and abroad. He was a judicial marshal in London’s High Court, shadowing the work of Mrs Justice Gloster when she was the judge in charge of the Commercial Court. Prior to joining Queen Mary, Filip was a member of the Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Southampton, where he was the Academic Lead for Executive Training. Filip’s work on transnational commercial injunctions has drawn the attention of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which interviewed him in relation to their recent articles on high-value cross-border litigation in London.