Anti-suit injunction

It is settled law that the English courts have the jurisdiction to grant an anti-suit injunction to prevent a party to an arbitration clause from commencing judicial proceedings in contravention of the clause. Indeed, the leading cases go further and make it clear that an injunction is normally to be granted unless it can be shown that the applicant has submitted to the jurisdiction of the foreign court or has otherwise delayed his application and has thereby allowed the foreign proceedings to reach an advanced stage. The decision of Morison J in Goshawk Dedicated Ltd v ROP Inc [2006] EWHC 1730 (Comm) is a further illustration of the operation of the jurisdiction to grant anti-suit relief in support arbitration clauses.

Goshawk: the facts

Goshawk was a Lloyd’s syndicate which had engaged in writing stop loss insurance for viatical companies. Viatical business is the purchase of life policies on individuals terminally ill or aged over 65, the hope of the purchaser being that the proceeds become payable at a time when they still exceed the premium and other costs incurred by the purchaser in maintaining the policy. The insurance issued by Goshawk was against the risk that the business would not be profitable, and in fact viatical business proved to be spectacularly unprofitable leading to substantial losses for Goshawk.