Need For Speed: Get Your Anti-Suit Injunction Fast!

Introduction

Parties entering into arbitration agreements ordinarily abide by their contractually chosen dispute resolution mechanism and proceed accordingly. Sometimes, one encounters a counter-party who takes it upon himself to start proceedings in a foreign jurisdiction in breach of an arbitration clause. How does an innocent party restrain such conduct? The Court of Appeal (SGCA) in Sun Travels & Tours Pvt Ltd v Hilton Manage (Maldives) Pvt Ltd (Sun Travels) laid down firm guidance that a party who finds itself in this scenario should act as fast possible to restrain the counter-party by way of an anti-suit injunction (ASI). The SGCA clarified that once a judgment (including one subject to appeal) has been issued in the foreign court, it is too late for an ASI to be sought or obtained in the seat court. The question remains as to when one attempts to obtain ASI relief before a judgment has been handed down in the foreign proceedings. Seeing as an ASI is