Jurisdiction agreements under EU law

The rules which govern the jurisdiction of the English courts where the defendant is domiciled in an EU country, as laid down in European Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, the Brussels Regulation, are modified in the case of matters relating to insurance. The broad effect of those rules is that the insurers are confined to suing the assured in the place of his domicile, whereas the assured can sue the insurers in either the place of his own domicile or that of the insurers. Any agreement to restrict those rights is void unless made after the dispute has arisen. In Sherdley and Anr v Nordea Life and Pension SA [2012] EWCA Civ 88 the Court of Appeal confirmed that an exclusive jurisdiction clause in the policy infringes the rights of the assured, although the outcome was unfortunate for the assured in that by the time the action had been brought the assured’s domcile had changed from Wales to Spain and it was no longer possible for the assured to rely upon English jurisdiction.

Sherdley: the facts

In June 2006 and again in April 2007 the claimants, Mr and Mrs Sherdley, who were British nationals, invested in two individual unit-linked life insurance contracts with Nordea, a Luxembourg company and a major provider of financial services. The contracts were designed to enhance the growth of a capital assurance plan. The sums provided by the Sherdleys were invested by Nordea, on the security of the Sherdleys’ residential investments in Spain. At the time of the contracts the Sherdleys were living in both Wales and Spain.