The plaintiff, an Italian company, filed an action of payment against the defendant shipowner for bunker fuel obtained by the charterers of a vessel. The vessel was arrested by the plaintiff at Aberdeen. The defendant admitted the jurisdiction of the Scottish Court. The plaintiff, however, moved to sist (stay) the action pending determination of the dispute by the Italian Courts, arguing that Italy was the more appropriate forum.

The plaintiff argued that the present case had no connection with Scotland. According to art 8 of the Rome Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations 1980, it would be appropriate to sist to enable the Italian Courts to determine the matter. The defendant alleged that according to the International Convention Relating to the Arrest of Sea-Going Ships 1952 (Arrest Convention 1952), any Court before whom this dispute was raised would be bound to stay its proceedings in order that the matter be determined by the Court first seised of the jurisdiction. Therefore, there should be no dispute about the jurisdiction of the Scottish Court.

Held: Motion dismissed.

The present situation is that the plaintiff has invoked the jurisdiction of the Scottish Court and has litigated in Scotland to the closed record stage. This jurisdiction is not challenged by the defendant and the defendant does not assert that its case could be more conveniently dealt with elsewhere. It would be very unusual to entitle the Court, against the wishes of the defendant, to permit the plaintiff to forum shop having secured its jurisdiction and arrestment (arrest).

Furthermore, the defendant is right to argue that so long as the present action remained before the Scottish Court, no other action can be raised elsewhere since according to arts 3.3, 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 of the Arrest Convention 1952, such an action would be dismissed.