“In the interests of the harmonious administration of justice it is necessary to minimise the possibility of concurrent proceedings and to ensure that irreconcilable judgments will not be given in different Member States. There should be a clear and effective mechanism for resolving cases of lis pendens and related actions, and for obviating problems flowing from national differences as to the determination of the time when a case is regarded as pending. For the purposes of this Regulation, that time should be defined autonomously.”
“1. Where related actions are pending in the courts of different Member States, any court other than the court first seised may stay its proceedings. 2. Where the action in the court first seised is pending at first instance, any other court may also, on the application of one of the parties, decline jurisdiction if the court first seised has jurisdiction over the actions in question and its law permits the consolidation thereof. 3. For the purposes of this Article, actions are deemed to be related where they are so closely connected that it is expedient to hear and determine them together to avoid the risk of irreconcilable judgments resulting from separate proceedings.”
“In making the comparison the court looks at all the circumstances, not just at the circumstances at the date of the institution of the English Action, in order to see how closely related the actions are and whether there is a risk of irreconcilable judgments in separate proceedings. In this case it is agreed that the actions were related at the time of the issue and hearing of the application. There is a risk of irreconcilable judgments in these actions if the English courts decide that the Assignment Agreement is valid and the German courts decide that it is void (or vice versa).”
“Article 28, under which a stay is discretionary, looks to the current position and to matters that post-date the onset of the proceedings to consider the relationship between actions that are pending to see if they are related and if there is a risk of irreconcilable judgments.”
“The judge rejected Stribog’s submission that the alleged invalidity of the Assignment Agreement, though not actually raised before15 February 2010 , was embryonic, inherent or intrinsic in the German Action from its inception.”
“It is not the case that the German proceedings were an action in which a claimant is relying on an assignment for the purposes of his claim, when it may be anticipated, and, even if not anticipated, turns out to be the case, that a defendant alleges the assignment to be invalid.”
“As of the time of the current proceedings for a stay of the English action, Stribog had not yet filed a defence in the English action, but, in the light of the development mentioned immediately below in the German action [ie the February 2010 statement], it could be predicted that one at least of its defences would be that the assignment of DeWind GmbH’s claim under the BTA is void and thus ineffective.”
“it seems to me that in the context of article 28(3), I must proceed on the basis of the indication given by Mr Nash … viz that if the present proceedings were to continue in England, the defendant is likely to oppose the declarations sought and that it would seek to rely on all matters which have already been raised in the Italian proceedings.”