Antisuit injunctions and the Brussels Convention

THE law concerning antisuit injunctions continues to develop, albeit in a conceptually unsatisfying, piecemeal fashion. English courts are increasingly concerned about the problem of extraterritoriality—witness Lord Goff's strictures about comity in Airbus Industrie GIE v. Patel [1998] 1 W.L.R. 686 (H.L.). But their cautious language conceals a readiness to grant relief in novel situations. A recent example is Turner v. Grovit [1999] 3 All E.R. 616, where, in the course of proceedings for constructive dismissal brought by Mr. Turner before an English employment tribunal, his employers sued him in Spain for repudiating his contract of employment. The Court of Appeal unhesitatingly restrained the Spanish proceedings. They were an abuse of process, intended solely to vex Mr. Grovit in the pursuit of his claim before the employment tribunal.