In a judgment handed down in the Commercial Court this morning in Magomedov & others v. PJSC Transneft & others [2024] EWHC 1176 (Comm), Mr Justice Bright continued interim anti-anti-suit injunctive (AASI) relief granted by Foxton J on 21 February 2024 and granted anti-enforcement injunctive (AEI) relief against the twentieth defendant (Transneft) in respect of anti-suit proceedings pursued in and orders made by the Moscow Arbitrazh Court. The AASI and AEI relief are effective pending determination of Transneft’s challenge to jurisdiction listed to be heard by the Commercial Court in November 2024.
Amongst other things, Bright J: (a) accepted at [77]-[93] that a claimant in this particular situation need not show that England is the natural forum as a pre-condition to obtaining AASI (and hence AEI) relief; and (b) rejected at [94]-[103] an alternative argument that the so-called Airbus exception, i.e. to the general rule that natural forum must be shown in non-contractual anti-suit cases, applied in respect of Transneft’s engagement of the jurisdiction of the Moscow Court pursuant to articles 248.1 and 248.2 of the Arbitrazh Procedural Code.
Bright J granted Transneft permission to appeal on points of law related to (a) above, having noted at [67] that there is no appellate authority on AASI relief and no prior case in which such relief has been granted on a non-contractual basis where the relevant claimant was not resident or domiciled in England.
A link to the judgment can be found here.
Stephen Houseman KC and Stephen Donnelly represent the injunction claimants, instructed by Simon Bushell and Kevin Kilgour of Seladore Legal.
