Lough Neagh Exploration Ltd v Morrice
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1999 |
| Date | 01 January 1999 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
- Jurisdiction of courts - Whether domestic court should decline jurisdiction - Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, 1968, arts. 21, 22.
The plaintiff company, LNE, was incorporated in Northern Ireland in 1981 to carry out petroleum exploration activities in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere. K., who acquired the company in 1989, had a long term interest in prospecting for petroleum deposits in the North West Carboniferous Basin (the NWCB) which extended over a substantial part of north west Ireland and was situated partly in Northern Ireland and partly in the Republic. He had also acquired seismic data which he assigned to LNE in 1990. The first defendant, S.M., became a 50% shareholder in that company in 1990 and in 1991 she entered into an agreement with LNE to act as consultant for a period of three years. In 1995 she informed K. that she was assisting a company based in the United States of America, P. Ltd., to carry out a study of the NWCB oil and gas reserves. In July, 1996, an advertisement appeared in the press that the relevant minister in the Republic intended to grant a non-exclusive petroleum prospecting licence to S.M. Associates (the defendant company) and to P. Ltd. over certain lands in the Republic lying within the NWCB. K. asserted that S.M. had acted in breach of her consultancy contract and the duty of confidentiality which she owed to LNE. LNE brought proceedings in the High Court in the Republic against the defendants, P. Ltd. and the minister by the issue of a plenary summons on 25 April, 1997, seeking a variety of injunctions and declarations together with claims for damages. On 30 June the defendants and P. Ltd. applied to the court in the Republic for an order for security for costs. Such order was granted on 27 August, 1997, with the amount subsequently fixed on 23 January, 1998, at IR£128,000 to be lodged within six weeks. LNE failed to provide security and on application by the defendants and P. Ltd., the plaintiff's action in the Republic was struck out, an appeal against that decision being finally dismissed on 17 May, 1999. Meanwhile on 5 March, 1998, which was the day before the expiry of time limited for lodging the sum fixed in the Republic, LNE's solicitors wrote to S.M. threatening to commence proceedings in the High Court in Northern Ireland. The writ of summons was issued...
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