High Court Decision - Forum Rules On Contract Claims And Guidance On Service Rules

In a recent decision, the BVI High Court examined the rules on stay applications in breach of contract claims and/or breach of fiduciary duty arising out of a contract. The Court went on to give some useful guidance on the differences between BVI and English rules on service out of jurisdiction procedure.

In relation to stay applications the Court followed the guidance set out in the English case of Banco Atlantico v BBME [1990] 2 Lloyd's Reports 504 which sets out a series of questions for the Court which in summary are (1) is there a contract? (2) if so, what appears to be the proper law? (3) what issues between the parties have to be decided under the presumptive proper law? and (4) does the defendant show that the foreign forum in clearly and distinctly more appropriate for the determination of the issues having regard to the interests of justice and the achievement of justice?