EUPillar Gibraltar Residential Properties Limited v Gibralcon 2004 SA [2010] EWHC 2595 (TCC)

Summary

The claimant, GRPL, was registered in Gibraltar. The defendant, Gibralcon, was a company registered in Spain. The dispute was related to the construction of a property development which Gibralcon was engaged to complete in Gibraltar. The claimant commenced two actions in April 2010 and May 2010. A month earlier on 8th March 2010, Gibralcon had become the subject of insolvency proceedings. In view of that, the relief sought was declaratory which would be necessary for the GRPL to prove the debt in the Spanish insolvency proceedings. Gibralcon challenged the jurisdiction of the English court, seeking a declaration that the English court had no jurisdiction. This posed inter alia the question about the scope of Brussels I in cases where there were insolvency proceedings. An interesting aspect of the case was that, a week before the hearing in England, a Spanish court rendered an order declaring that the English court “does not have jurisdiction to adopt any kind of measures, either precautionary or executive, relating to the assets or rights comprising the company equity of [Gibralcon]” [7] In spite of that, the English High Court dismissed the defendant’s application. Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart held: “37 I consider that the Insolvency Regulation 1346/2000 and the Jurisdiction and Judgments Regulation 44/2001 are intended to provide mutually exclusive codes in relation to jurisdiction: the former is confined to insolvency and analogous proceedings, whereas the latter applies to other civil and commercial proceedings (save for those specifically excluded, such as, for example, arbitration). […] 47 […] I unhesitatingly prefer the views of Professor Virgos and conclude that the effect of art.11 of the Spanish Insolvency Act , in cases where there is a dispute between the Spanish debtor and a party domiciled in another state, is to confine the jurisdiction of the Spanish courts to that of hearing and deciding actions that have their legal grounds in the insolvency legislation and that are immediately related to the insolvency proceedings. This leaves the question of jurisdiction over claims between the Spanish debtor and a party domiciled in another Member State to be resolved in accordance with the rules of the Jurisdiction and Judgments Regulation 44/2001. […] 53 I am therefore not prepared to accede to the request of the Commercial Court in Madrid that this court should abstain from hearing these claims.” [37 and 47]