Tropical Shipping Co. v. Dammers & Van der Heide’s Scheepvaart en Handelsbedrijf BV
The Hague Court of Appeal
[1982] ECC 353—29 February 1980
- Written by Steven Pacht, JD
Facts
Tropical Shipping Company (Tropical) (defendant) owned a vessel called the Dabema, which was docked in the Netherlands. Dammers & Van der Heide’s Scheepvaart en Handelsbedrijf BV (Dammers) (plaintiff), which contended that Tropical owed it money, obtained an order from a Dutch court permitting it to take the Dabema into a conservatory sequestration. Tropical objected that the Dutch court did not have jurisdiction because, although Tropical was legally incorporated in Liberia, its true seat allegedly was in France and thus that French courts had jurisdiction over Dammers’s nonpayment claim. Per Tropical, the Dutch court should recognize French law regarding its true seat pursuant to Articles 2 and 53 of the Brussels Convention of 1968 (convention). Tropical also cited a potentially pending suit by Dammers against it in Bordeaux, France. The lower court rejected Tropical’s position, ruling that the convention did not apply because Liberia was not a signatory to the convention and that, under Dutch private international law, Tropical’s incorporation in Liberia governed the court’s jurisdiction. Tropical appealed, arguing that (1) Dutch private international law did not consider Liberia to be Tropical’s base for jurisdictional purposes and (2) the Dutch court did not give due effect to Tropical’s asserted French true seat.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
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