The Ruben Martinez Villena - Q.B.D. (Adm.Ct.) (Sheen J.) - 21 December 1987

Stay of action - Time for bringing application

The defendants applied for a stay of proceedings on the ground that the bill of lading contained an exclusive jurisdiction clause. The plaintiffs took a point inter alia that the application had been made late. The defendants said that they had delayed until after service of the statement of claim before issuing their application because they relied on a note in paragraph 5207 of the Supreme Court Practice 1988 which said that an application to stay an action was generally premature if made before service of a statement of claim.