Post-Brexit Tension? EU Courts Can Refuse To Recognise "Quasi Anti-suit Injunctions"

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that an English High Court judgment amounts to a "quasi anti-suit injunction", which EU courts can in principle refuse to enforce. The judgment awarded declaratory and monetary relief against a party which had brought Greek proceedings in breach of a settlement agreement with an exclusive English jurisdiction clause. This article will review the judgment and the ongoing challenges between English courts and EU regulation in a post-Brexit environment.

Legal context

Brussels instruments - the Brussels Regulation - and, from 2015, its successor, Brussels Recast - provide a scheme for determining, as between member states of the European Union, which country's courts have jurisdiction to hear a dispute; and for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments as between member states. There are limited bases on which the courts of one member state can refuse to recognise or enforce a judgment rendered in another