Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
INTERNATIONAL TORTS AND SHEVILL: THE GHOST OF FORUM SHOPPING YET TO COME
Alan Reed* and T. P. Kennedy **
The recent European Court of Justice decision in Shevill v. Presse Alliance1
is of fundamental importance to commercial enterprises throughout the European Union. The decision itself, pertinent to the prescription of jurisdiction in an international libel scenario, is of far wider significance. By parity of reasoning it must also ascribe jurisdiction within Member States to other intangible economic torts such as negligent misstatement and inducement of breach of contract. It is vital that commercial undertakings are aware of the current jurisdictional position consequentially applicable to a multi-state and multiparty dealing involving tortious conduct.
The facts
The facts in Shevill
2 present an intriguing picture. The first plaintiff, Fiona Shevill, domiciled in England with her main residence in Yorkshire, was employed at a bureau de change operated by the fourth plaintiff, Chequepoint SARL, which was owned by the third plaintiff, Ixora Trading Inc., of which the second plaintiff, Chequepoint International, was the holding company. Chequepoint is a French enterprise operating a number of bureaux de change in France and elsewhere in Europe. The second, third and fourth plaintiffs are French-registered companies. The defendants publish the newspaper, France Soir, a daily evening newspaper which has a large circulation in France, in excess of 200,000 copies daily, and a smaller daily circulation of approximately 15,500 copies outside France. In relation to this latter circulation only 230 copies are said to have been sold in England and Wales, notably only five in Yorkshire where the first plaintiff resided.
The plaintiffs claimed damages for harm caused by the publication of a defamatory newspaper article. The publication of which complaint was made was published in France Soir on 27 September 1989. It referred to an alleged investigation by French police into the laundering of money obtained from the sale of drugs by, in particular, the Paris bureau de change in which the first plaintiff was temporarily employed for three months in the summer of 1989, and to whom reference by name was made in the article. In November 1989 the defendants published a retraction and apology in respect of Fiona Shevill and Chequepoint. The action, subsequent to amendments to the statement of claim, related solely to publication in England and Wales, not France. The defendants sought to strike
* Lecturer in Law, University of Leeds.
** Lecturer in Law, University of Leeds.
1. Shevill v. Presse Alliance S.A. (Case C–68/93) [1995] 2 W.L.R. 499; and now [1995] 2 A.C. 18.
2. [1992] 2 W.L.R. 1, 6.
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