Al-Aggad v Al-Aggad and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 226 (Comm) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Court | King's Bench Division (Commercial Court) |
2023 Oct 17, 18, 26; 2024 Feb 6
Practice - Service - Validity - Claim form served by claimant failing to include claimant’s address - Whether service invalid - Whether defect curable under court’s general power to remedy errors of procedure -
The claimant brought claims against the defendants for breach of contract and unlawful means conspiracy. The claim form served on the third defendant, which was served by the claimant rather than the court, did not include the claimant’s address as required by CPR r 16.2(1)(e) and PD 16, para 2.1F1. The third defendant applied for a declaration that there had been no valid service, contending that since by PD 16, para 2.3 the court would not serve a claim form without an address unless a valid dispensation had been given it followed that a claimant should not be able to do so either; and that the defect in service could not be cured pursuant to the court’s general power in CPR r 3.10 to remedy errors of procedure.
On the application—
Held, refusing the application, that where a claim form was stamped by the court and the claimant was left to effect service, CPR PD 16 did not provide for an express sanction for non-compliance with the requirement in CPR r 16.2(1)(e) and PD 16, para 2.1 that the claim form include an address at which the claimant lived or carried on business; that the defect constituted by a claim form which did not contain an address for the claimant was capable of being remedied by the court pursuant to its power in CPR r 3.10 to rectify errors of procedure, there being no superadded requirements in PD 16 which prevented the application of that general power to address the consequences of non-compliance with the specific requirement in PD 16, para 2.1; that the principle of open justice, while important, did not lead to the conclusion that a claim form which did not comply with the requirements of the CPR in relation to the inclusion of an address could not be validly served; that, in the present case, the court should exercise its discretion under CPR r 3.10 to remedy the defect in the claim form; and that, accordingly, service had been validly effected on the third defendant, notwithstanding the lack of an address for the claimant on the claim form (post, paras 63–64, 109).
The following cases are referred to in the judgment:
AEP v Labour Party
AMM v HXW
Abela v Baadarani
Avonwick Holdings Ltd v Castle Investment Fund Ltd
BNP Paribas SA v Open Joint Stock Co Russian Machines
BNP Paribas SA v Open Joint Stock Co Russian Machines
Barton v Wright Hassall LLP
Beriwala v Woodstone Properties (Birmingham) Ltd
Bill Kenwright Ltd v Flash Entertainment FZ LLC
Boxwood Leisure Ltd v Gleeson Construction Services Ltd
Cecil v Bayat
G v Wikimedia Foundation Inc
IMS SA v Capital Oil and Gas Industries Ltd
Ideal Shopping Direct Ltd v Mastercard Inc
JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov
Kammins Ballrooms Co Ltd v Zenith Investments (Torquay) Ltd [
Kennedy v Charity Commission
Marconi Communications International Ltd v PT Pan Indonesia Bank Ltd
Motor Oil Hellas (Corinth) Refineries SA v Shipping Corpn of India (The Kanchenjunga) [
Municipio de Mariana v BHP Group (UK) Ltd
Municipio de Mariana v BHP Group (UK) Ltd
NAB v Serco Ltd
Olafsson v Gissurarson (No 2)
Pitalia v NHS England
R (Good Law Project Ltd) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Practice Note)
Rawlinson and Hunter Trustees SA v Director of the Serious Fraud Office
Serbian Orthodox Church—Serbian Patriarchy v Kesar & Co
Stunt v Associated Newspapers Ltd
Taylor v Evans
Vinos v Marks & Spencer plc [
Williams & Glyn’s Bank plc v Astro Dinamico Cia Naviera SA [
The following additional cases were cited in argument or referred to in the skeleton arguments:
A v British Broadcasting Corpn
Attorney General v British Broadcasting Corpn
CDE v NOP
CVB v MGN Ltd
Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd v Al Sanea
Elmes v Hygrade Food Products plc
Gray v UVW
H v News Group Newspapers Ltd (Practice Note)
Johnson v Devon and Cornwall Police
Libyan Investment Authority v Société Générale SA
Libyan Investment Authority v Société Générale SA
Lubbe v Cape plc [
OT Africa Line Ltd v Hijazy (The Kribi) (No 1) [
Officer L, In re
Practice Guidance (Interim Non-Disclosure Orders) [
Rawlinson and Hunter Trustees SA v Serious Fraud Office
Scott v Scott [
Singh v Grief to Grace
Steele v Mooney
Texan Management Ltd v Pacific Electric Wire and Cable Co Ltd
Various Claimants v Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
X (formerly Bell) v O’Brien
XXX v Persons Unknown
APPLICATIONS
By a claim form dated 5 May 2022 the claimant, Rana Al-Aggad, brought claims for breach of contract and unlawful means conspiracy against the defendants, Talal Al-Aggad, Tarek Al-Aggad and Lama Al-Aggad. The third defendant was served on 15 July 2022.
By an application notice dated 5 October 2023 the third defendant applied for a declaration that the service had been invalid because the claim form that was served did not contain the claimant’s personal address.
By an application notice dated 11 October 2023 the claimant applied for dispensation of the inclusion of her personal address on the claim form because of the potential for personal danger to her and her son if her personal address became known.
The facts are stated in the judgment, post, paras 2–3, 6–8.
Anthony Peto KC and Shane Sibbel (instructed by
Stephen Houseman KC and Richard Hoyle (instructed by
Fionn Pilbrow KC and Vanshaj Jain (instructed by
The court took time for consideration.
6 February 2024. CHRISTOPHER HANCOCK KC handed down the following judgment.
Introduction1 I have before me a number of applications, which are themselves preparatory for a potential forum non conveniens application currently listed for February 2024. Whether those applications do go ahead will depend on my decisions in this judgment, since the defendants, for various reasons, do not accept that they have been validly served by the claimant (“C”).
The background facts2 C is the sister of the three defendants. D1 and D2 are her brothers, whilst D3 is her sister.
3 C is a Saudi national and refugee living in Canada [REDACTED]. She was granted refugee status by the Canadian authorities on 12 July 2011.
4 It is necessary for me to set out in some detail the allegations made by C, although I emphasise that I make no final findings in this regard. I discuss the relevance of this material below.
(1) [REDACTED]
(2) [REDACTED]
(3) [REDACTED]
(4) [REDACTED]
(5) [REDACTED]
(6) [REDACTED]
(7) [REDACTED]
5 [REDACTED]
6 In summary, therefore, C submits that:
(1) [REDACTED]
(2) [REDACTED]
(3) it is necessary for C to refer to and rely upon that history for the purposes of these proceedings, both on the present applications and in the course of explaining, in particular, the relevant background to her claims and how (on C’s case) the defendants have taken advantage of her position to deprive her of the practical value of her shares in AICO (an investment holding company called Aggad Investment Co (also known as Omar Abdel-Fattah Al Aggad & Co), which was incorporated in Saudi Arabia by the parties’ father, Mr Omar Al-Aggad, in 1975) [REDACTED];
(4) [REDACTED]
(5) similar fears persuaded (i) the Canadian authorities to grant C refugee [REDACTED]; and
(6) [REDACTED].
The current proceedings7 In these proceedings, C claims against all three defendants for breach of contract and for unlawful means conspiracy. For the purposes of this judgment, I do not need to go into the details of the underlying claims.
8 The current English proceedings were issued on 5 May 2022. On 15 July 2022, D3 was served with the proceedings personally whilst at Heathrow Airport. The family have a London apartment and a Surrey property.
9 On 22 July...
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Rana Al-Aggad v Talal Al-Aggad & Ors
...could not be achieved within the period of validity of the claim form. The evidence was that service through diplomatic means in Saudi[2024] EWHC 226 (Comm) Case No: CL-2022-000230 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES KING'S BENCH DIVISION COMMERCIA......