COMPANIA SUD AMERICANA DE VAPORES SA V HIN-PRO INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS LTD

[2016] HKCFA 79, Court of Final Appeal of the Hong Kong SAR, Chief Justice Ma, Justice Ribeiro PJ, Justice Tang PJ, Justice Fok PJ and Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers NPJ, 14 November 2016

Dispute resolution - Mareva injunctions - Comity

This was the application for a Mareva injunction over Hin-Pro's assets in Hong Kong, in support of actions before the English courts for damages for breach of contract for disregarding exclusive jurisdiction clauses in a number of bills of lading. Hin-Pro had commenced litigation before a number of Chinese courts under a large number of bills of lading. The Mareva injunction was sought pursuant to the court's powers under section 21M of the High Court Ordinance. This was CSAV's appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal not to grant relief, on the grounds that this would be an intervention into a conflict between the English courts and those of the PRC and therefore contrary to the policy of judicial comity.