Challenging court jurisdiction

Principles

When serving the claim form on the defendant, the claimant must include a response pack which, among other things, enables the defendant to inform the court that it intends to challenge the court’s jurisdiction. This may be in the form of:

1. •

   disputing that the court has jurisdiction, or alternatively where the court does have jurisdiction

2. •

   challenging whether the court should exercise that jurisdiction to hear the dispute

There are a number of basis on which the court's jurisdiction can be disputed. For example:

1. •

   there is a valid jurisdiction agreement between the parties in favour of another court

2. •

   there is a valid arbitration agreement between the parties

3. •

   permission of the court to serve out of the jurisdiction was required but not obtained

4. •

   permission of the court to serve out of the jurisdiction was wrongly granted on the basis that the three requirements for permission to be granted were not met and/or the claimant failed in its duty of full and frank disclosure

The basis on which the defendant will challenge whether the court should exercise its jurisdiction will be