Court Reaffirms Deviations From Forum Non Conveniens Principles

On November 5 2013 the Limassol District Court had the opportunity to examine aspects of the forum non conveniens doctrine in the context of an application to set aside service of the writ of summons issued in Gorsoan Limited v Bullock.¹ The case is one of a series of actions between Gazprombank and Janna Bullock in various jurisdictions, in which the bank is seeking to recover $21 million in damages it claims to have suffered due to purported fraud by Bullock and her associates.

Certain defendants/applicants argued that the Cyprus court had no jurisdiction to try the action and that the most appropriate forum was Russia.

With reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in Owusu v Jackson,² the district court judge reaffirmed that when Cyprus courts have jurisdiction on the basis of EU Regulation 44/2001, or the Brussels Convention that preceded it, the court cannot refuse its jurisdiction on the grounds that another country would constitute a more