Order for alternative service contravened the conventions

Knauf UK GmbH v British Gypsum Ltd and another (CA TLR 15 November)

The claimant had not wished to litigate against the first defendant in England and the second in Germany There was no difficulty serving the first defendant in England, nor was there any difficulty in bringing the second defendant within the English jurisdiction through either the Hague Service Convention 1969 or the Brussels Convention scheduled to the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982. To ensure that all proceedings took place in England it was necessary for the claimant to serve the second defendant before it could find out that the action was being brought and required an order for service in England by an alternative method on a foreign defendant. However, such an order should not be made because it subverted the principles on which service and jurisdiction were regulated by the agreement between the United Kingdom and its convention partners. Precedence was achieved only by taking an a priori view of where it was convenient for the litigation to be conducted.