Anti-suit injunctions

It has long been settled law in England that the English courts may restrain a person from commencing or pursuing legal proceedings outside the jurisdiction if he has agreed to litigate in England or the contract between the parties contains an arbitration clause requiring all disputes to be referred to arbitration. Proceedings commenced or maintained in breach of either type of agreement are regarded as oppressive or vexatious and merit the grant of an anti-suit injunction. There are three main limits on the grant of anti-suit relief: the applicant must not delay in making his application to the English courts; the applicant must not have submitted to the jurisdiction of the foreign court (so that contesting the jurisdiction of the foreign court is permissible but serving a substantive defence is not); and, perhaps most significantly, it is no longer possible to issue an anti-suit injunction where the proceedings have been commenced in court in another EU country. In liability insurance cases a further problem may arise, in that the person bringing the action against the insurers may not be a party to the policy itself but has a right under the law in which the action has been brought confers a direct cause of action on him against liability insurers. This was the position in Markel International Co Ltd v Craft [2006] EWHC 3150 (Comm).