An English appellate court permitted an Australian reinsurer in liquidation to enforce a judgment entered in Australian insolvency proceedings against a Lloyd’s syndicate, which had elected not to participate in the foreign proceedings. On appeal, the syndicate argued that England’s reciprocity act did not apply to foreign judgments made in insolvency proceedings, and that England’s insolvency act, which recognizes Australian courts, should be interpreted as strictly permitting only Australian choice of law, rather than the enforcement of Australian judgments. The court disagreed on both issues, relying on another English appellate decision (currently on appeal before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom) that held that England would enforce a foreign insolvency judgment under the reciprocity act, and rejecting the syndicate’s narrow interpretation of the insolvency act. The court considered the respective laws’ legislative history, as well as the interplay between English common law, the reciprocity act, and the insolvent act’s jurisdictional provisions. In re New Cap Reinsurance Corp. Ltd. (In Liquidation), 2011 EWCA Civ 971 (Eng. Ct. App. August 9, 2011).
This post written by Michael Wolgin.