General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd v The State of Libya 2019 EWHC 64 Comm - 18 January 2019
Country
Year
2019
Summary
Can an arbitration award against a state be enforced by court proceedings in this country without service on that state of any formal court document? Service of court proceedings on states is governed by section 12 of the State Immunity Act 1978 which provides for service through the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of "any writ or other document required to be served for instituting proceedings against the State". The claimant says that this section does not apply because arbitration enforcement proceedings are instituted by the issue of an arbitration claim form which is not required to be served on a defendant and that the order granting permission to enforce the award, which is required to be served, is not the document which institutes the proceedings. It says, therefore, that section 12 does not apply to service of an order granting permission to enforce an award and that the court has an unfettered power to dispense with service of the order under CPR 6.28. ...