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Vauxhall Motors Limited and others v Denso Automotive UK Ltd and others [2025] EWHC 213 (Ch), judgment 5 February 2025, Bacon J
Philip Moser KC, Alan Bates and Jack Williams of Monckton Chambers have acted successfully for the First Defendant (an alleged “anchor” defendant) and others who challenged the jurisdiction of the English courts in claims concerning their alleged participation in a worldwide car-cooling parts cartel.
The application was a forum non conveniens jurisdictional challenge, once again made possible since Brexit and the UK withdrawal from the Brussels Regulation regime. The underlying action was for competition law damages brought by a group of car manufacturers, including the French Stellantis group and others, against certain suppliers of car-cooling components.
The Court accepted the defendants’ arguments that the appropriate forum for the proceedings was France, and not England and Wales, Mrs Justice Bacon concluding that that was the jurisdiction with which they had the closest connection. The claims against the UK-based defendants were stayed generally, the orders permitting service out on the remaining defendants were set aside, and the claims against those defendants were dismissed.
This is now the second reported forum non conveniens challenge to jurisdiction in a competition law context since Brexit, following Mercedes-Benz v Continental Teves [2023] EWHC 1143 (Comm). Both have succeeded.
The Judgment can be found here.
Philip Moser KC, Alan Bates and Jack Williams of Monckton Chambers, instructed by Linklaters, acted for the successful DENSO group of Defendants