Print page

Seminar: Jurisdiction Disputes: the Interface Between the Judgments Regulation and the Insolvency Regulation

Vasanti Selvaratnam QC  & Peter Stevenson

This seminar considers the interface between the Judgments Regulation and the Insolvency Regulation in jurisdiction disputes.

  • The Judgments Regulation does not apply to 'proceedings relating to the winding-up of insolvent companies' (Art 1(2)). Where proceedings relate to the winding-up of insolvent companies, jurisdiction within the EC is governed by the Insolvency Regulation.
  • Difficulty arises in defining the limits of this exclusion what are proceedings relating to the winding up of insolvent companies.
  • This issue arose in Madoff Securities International Ltd (in liquidation) v Yacht Bull Corporation [2010] EWHC 133 (Ch) in which it was argued by MSIL, an insolvent company, that proceedings brought in France by a French company, Financiere Meerschaert SA ("FM"), which would serve to determine whether a yacht was the property of MSIL, fell within Art 1(2) exclusion.
  • That argument, which was opposed by Vasanti Selvaratnam QC, was rejected by the Chancellor, who held that the proceedings did not raise issues which were unique to insolvency law and that, accordingly, the French courts had jurisdiction under the Judgments Regulation.
  • In this seminar, Vasanti Selvaratnam QC will examine the cases which led the judge to reach this conclusion, including Gourdain v Nadler [1979] 3 CMLR 180; Seagon v Deko Marty Belgium NVRe Hayward [2009] 1 WLR 2168; [1997] Ch 45 and Pollard v Ashurst [2001] Ch 595 and the recent ECJ decision in German Graphics v Alice van de Schee Case C-292/08 10 September 2009.
  • Peter Stevenson, who was also involved in Madoff Securities International Ltd (in liquidation) v Yacht Bull Corporation [2010] EWHC 133, will address a second issue that arose in the case, namely the extent of the jurisdictional exclusions contained in the Insolvency Regulation.

All Stone Chambers seminars are SRA CPD accredited.

For further information on this seminar please contact Sarah Longden on sarah.longden@stonechambers.com or 020 7440 6900.

> Back to Seminars