A French bank which alleges that a magic circle firm was negligent in its handling of a dispute over gold bullion has failed with its attempt to challenge the jurisdiction of the English courts.
Société Générale has commenced proceedings against Clifford Chance in the High Court of Paris with a hearing due to take place in March 2024. The international bank, headquartered in France, is seeking damages of more than €140m. An application to stay or dismiss proceedings in the English court was heard at the Rolls Building last month.
The Honourable Mr Justice Henshaw dismissed SocGen’s challenge to the court’s jurisdiction.
SocGen retained Clifford Chance in 2008 in litigation over the supply of 15.725 tonnes of gold to Goldas, a jewellery manufacturer based in Turkey and Dubai. It claimed that it later learned the gold was being used before it had been paid for. Clifford Chance’s retainer was terminated in 2017 after the manufacturer was successful in striking out the bank’s claims on the basis that they were out of time in the English courts.
Ruling on the jurisdiction challenge, the judge found the bank had not shown that the French courts were the more appropriate forum as the events surrounding the dispute all took place in England and a ‘large number of documents’ are written in English. 'The eight Clifford Chance personnel working on the Goldas dispute were all based in London. Except for Mr [Denis] Brock, who now lives in Hong Kong, they are understood still to be in this jurisdiction,' the judge continued. 'CC LLP is headquartered in London and SocGen has a substantial presence in London.
'Consequently, it has not been shown that the courts of France are clearly and distinctly the more appropriate forum. To the contrary, this court is that forum.'
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