“.. It would seem that Clyde & Co. are trying to draw Agustawestland Ltd into this action which, on my present understanding, is probably erroneous. As this case is being handled by Agustawestland S.p.A. would you please request the legal team in Cascina Costa and Insurers etc to respond to this letter repudiating any involvement of Agustawestland Ltd. Would you please keep me copied into such correspondence and any issues etc that involve or name Agustawestland Ltd.”
“We refer to your letter of 12th September to Agusta Westland and write to advise you we are instructed on behalf of the company and its Insurers in relation to this matter. We are advised that the addressees of your letters have no involvement with any relevant aspect of this incident. We are making enquiries into the circumstances of the case and will revert to you with regard to the matters that you have raised as soon as possible.”
“a person domiciled in a Member State may also be sued: (1) where he is one of a number of defendants, in the courts for the place where any one of them is domiciled, provided the claims 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.” domiciled, provided the claims 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.”
“32. However, the special rule on jurisdiction provided for in Art.6(1) of Regulation 44/2001 cannot be interpreted in such a way as to allow a plaintiff to make a claim against a number of defendants for the sole purpose of removing one of them from the jurisdiction of the courts of the Member State in which that defendant is domiciled… However, this does not seem to be the case in the main proceedings. 33. In the light of all of the above considerations, the answer to the question referred must be that Art.6(1) of Regulation 4/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that, in a situation such as that in the main proceedings, that provision may be relied on in the context of an action brought in a Member State against a defendant domiciled in that state and a co-defendant domiciled in another Member State even when that action is regarded under a national provision as inadmissible from the time it is brought in relation to the first defendant.”
"41. It is for the national court to assess whether there is a connection between the different claims brought before it, that is to say a risk of irreconcilable judgments if those claims were determined separately and in that regard to take account of all necessary factors in the case file which may, if appropriate, yet without its being necessary for the assessment, take into consideration the legal basis of the actions brought before that court."
“79. Before considering that decision, it seems to me there are two obvious objections to this argument. First, there are a number of decisions of the English courts to the effect that in order to invoke the jurisdiction under Article 6(1) the claimant must show a sustainable claim against the anchor defendant, in the sense of a serious issue to be tried or a real prospect of that claim succeeding: see for example per Tuckey LJ in FKI Engineering Ltd v De Wind Holdings Ltd[2008] EWCA Civ 316 at [18]. It is difficult to see how that requirement can be satisfied if the court has decided that the claim against the anchor defendant should be struck out, as on the hypothesis that the BPI application had succeeded would be the position here. Second, since the proviso to Article 6(1) clearly postulates that it is expedient to hear and determine the claims together to avoid the risk of irreconcilable judgments, it is difficult to see how that proviso can ever be satisfied if the claim against the anchor defendant has been struck out. A fortiori, if one claim has been struck out, the two claims will never be heard whether together or separately and there is no risk of irreconcilable judgments.”
“83. If the issue had arisen directly (which it does not because I have concluded the claimants have a fully arguable case against BPI, the anchor defendant) I would have decided that Reisch Montagewas distinguishable because it was only purporting to determine the position where an otherwise sustainable claim against the anchor defendant was precluded for some procedural reason under the national law. It was not purporting to decide that, if the claim against the anchor defendant was unsustainable because substantively, as opposed to procedurally, it had no real prospect of success.. the requirements of Article 6(1) were nonetheless satisfied. Accordingly, if contrary to my decision on BPI’s application, I had concluded that the claim against BPI was not arguable, I would have concluded that jurisdiction under Article 6(1) could not be maintained.”
“65. Having regard to the foregoing, the answer to Question 4 is that in the context of the determination of international jurisdiction… it is not necessary to conduct a comprehensive taking of evidence in relation to disputed facts that are relevant both to the question of jurisdiction and to the existence of the claim. It is, however, permissible for the court seised to examine its international jurisdiction in the light of all the information available to it, including, where appropriate, the allegations made by the defendant.”
“28 The court has nevertheless stated that, where claims brought against various defendants are connected within the meaning of article 6(1)… when the proceedings are instituted, the rule of jurisdiction laid down in that provision is applicable without there being any further need to establish separately that the claims were not brought with the sole object of ousting the jurisdiction of the courts of the member state where one of the defendants is domiciled: Freeport… 29 It follows that where, when proceedings are instituted, claims are connected within the meaning of article 6(1) of Regulation No 44/2001, the court seised of the case can find that the rule of jurisdiction laid down in that provision has potentially been circumvented only where there is firm evidence to support the conclusion that the applicant artificially fulfilled, or prolonged the fulfilment of, that provision’s applicability. 30 In the case in the main proceedings, some of the parties allege that, before the action in the proceedings was brought, an out-of-court settlement was reached … and that the parties purposefully delayed the formal conclusion of that settlement until proceedings had been instituted, for the sole purpose of securing the jurisdiction of the court seised of the case as against the other defendants. 31 In order to be able to exclude the applicability of the rule of jurisdiction laid down in article 6(1) of Regulation No 44/2001, an allegation of that nature must nevertheless be supported by firm evidence that, at the time that proceedings were instituted, the parties concerned had colluded to artificially fulfil, or prolong the fulfilment of, that provision’s applicability. 32 Although it is for the court seised of the case to assess such evidence, it must nevertheless be made clear that simply holding negotiations with a view to concluding an out-of-court settlement does not in itself prove such collusion. However, it would be otherwise if it transpired that such a settlement had, in fact, been concluded, but that it had been concealed in order to create the impression that the conditions of application of article 6(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 had been fulfilled.”
“the English court will have jurisdiction under Article 6(1) if the claims 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 verifying whether this requirement is satisfied, the court will use all available information and take a common-sense approach. However, the court will not have regard to whether the claim against the anchor defendant or the claim against the non-anchor defendant will fail due to a procedural bar or due to a lack of merit. As a matter of EU law, whether a claim will succeed is irrelevant to the question of whether the claims are closely connected, because the function of Article 6(1) is to avoid a risk of irreconcilable judgments. If the requirement is fulfilled, the English court can only deny the application of Article 6(1) if the sole purpose of bringing a claim against the anchor defendant was to remove the nonanchor defendants from the courts of their member state(s) of domicile, in the sense articulated by Reisch Montage, Freeport and CDC.”
“Other examples of an artificial fulfilment might be the hypothetical case posited by the Advocate General in Freeport of proceedings being commenced against a fictitious anchor defendant and a claimant in a case such as Reisch Montage commencing proceedings against the anchor defendant knowing that such proceedings were inadmissible against him.”
“101. As regards the test of artificial fulfilment of the express condition of connected claims under article 6(1) set out in Cartel Damage, Mr Howard submitted that it was simply another way of expressing the sole object test. They were two sides of the same coin. Artificial fulfilment was not limited to collusive conduct of the type contemplated by the CJEU in Cartel Damage. It encompassed the situation where a claimant commenced an action in the court of one state against an anchor defendant for the sole purpose of subjecting a foreign defendant to the jurisdiction of that court. The fact that the claim against the anchor defendant had merit would not affect the application of the sole object test. 102. While we see the force in these submissions, we have concluded that they do not represent the correct position as regards article 6(1) of Brussels 1 and of the Lugano Convention and article 8(1) of the Recast Brussels Regulation. An artificial fulfilment of the express condition of a close connection will not permit reliance on article 6(1). However, if the question is asked, is a claimant with a sustainable claim against an anchor defendant, which it intends to pursue to judgment in proceedings to which a foreign defendant is joined as a co-defendant, entitled to rely on article 6(1) even though the claimant’s sole object in issuing the proceedings against the anchor defendant is to sue the foreign defendant in the same proceedings, we consider that the question should be answered affirmatively… 111. Accordingly, we conclude in the present case that the Bank, which has a sustainable claim against the English Defendants and which intends to pursue the claim to judgment against those defendants in combination with its claims against Mr Kolomoisky and Mr Bogolyubov, is entitled to rely on article 6(1) even if its sole object in commencing the proceedings against the English Defendants is to be able also to sue those individuals at the same proceedings.”
“In addition to Agusta, an AgustaWestland company, and Bell Helicopter, several leading international companies have collaborated, as risk-sharing partners, during the development phase leading to this successful event. This includes Pratt & Whitney of Canada, Honeywell of the USA, GKN Westland Aerospace of the UK, PZL Swidnik of Poland, Liebherr of Germany, Kawasaki of Japan, and others.”
“For all of the above reasons, the Claimants’ claim against the Second Defendant should be struck out/the Second Defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favour.”
“.. The damage caused by a surgical operation for the replacement of a defective product such as a pacemaker constitutes “damage caused by for personal injuries” for which the producer is liable, if such an operation is necessary to overcome the defect in the product in question”
“A typical case is where a plaintiff workman is injured by defective machinery provided for his use by his employer. He can sue the employer in tort under theEmployer’s Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969 and perhaps also for negligence.Section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980 applies. The employer can sue in contract the supplier of the machinery; the measure of damages is an indemnity in respect of the workman’s claim. Such a claim in my judgment also plainly falls within section 11 . If the employer adds a claim in respect of his own losses resulting from the plaintiff’s injury (assuming such a claim will lie in law) the nature of the claim is not so different as to take it outside the section. Effectively this is what the firm’s claim is here, though of course it is not coupled with any claim for indemnity against a claim of the plaintiff. The final words of the section “in respect of personal injuries to the plaintiff or any other person ” , in my judgment add point to this construction.