Forum non conveniens in the Commercial Court – judgment handed down

Stephen Robins KC acted for the successful claimant (Nova Leipzig Sarl) in resisting an application by the defendant (Gravity Fitness Ltd) for a stay of English proceedings on forum non conveniens grounds. The defendant contended that Germany was an available forum which was plainly or distinctly more appropriate for the trial of the claim. Rejecting the defendant’s arguments, Mr Justice Saini held that: (1) the three grounds on which the defendant had relied in support of the proposition was that Germany was an available forum were misconceived, although the defendant had belatedly cured this problem by offering (during the hearing) an undertaking to submit to the jurisdiction of the German court; and (2) nevertheless, Germany was not clearly or distinctly more appropriate than England for the trial of the claim, because: (a) the defendant was incorporated and based in England, which was a weighty factor in favour of a trial England; (b) although the claimant’s claim was governed by German law, the relevant principles of German law were not that different from the equivalent English law principles and in any event a judge of the Commercial Court would be able to consider German law expert evidence and take account of any relevant differences; and (c) the other factors (including the location and language of witnesses and the language of documents) supported the conclusion that England, not Germany, was the appropriate forum for the trial of the claim.

The judgment is available here.