FINNISH MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY LTD V PROTECTIVE NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY

(1991) 1 Re LR 236

Queen’s Bench Division (Commercial Court)

Before Mr Adrian Hamilton QC (sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court)

Reinsurance - Jurisdiction - Service out of jurisdiction - Application to set aside - Contracts of reinsurance placed in London but confirmed in Guernsey by underwriting agents - Claim for declaration that plaintiffs not party to contracts - Whether claim brought to “affect” a contract or prove no contract existed - Discretion of court -Whether plaintiffs would have had a good arguable case that agent acted without authority - Whether plaintiffs set up a proper claim in quasi-contract within rules of court - Rules of Supreme Court Order 11 rule 1(1)(d)(ii), (e) - Whether defendants voluntarily submitted to jurisdiction by issue of summons to stay under Arbitration Act 1975.