Contratto ImpresaEuropa - Cedam

648 CONTRATTO E IMPRESA / EUROPA
the same. Nor did the fact that the first action was in personam and the second
action was in rem shake the court’s view ( 130). In short, if the United
States action is otherwise entitled to recognition in England, an English
court may very well conclude that this estopps the claimant from bringing
a fresh action in England on the basis of English rules of procedure.
(J) Judgment in the claimant’s favour
(i) For a sum with which the claimant is not satisfied
Of course, it is possible that the judgment might be delivered in the
claimant’s favour, but for a lesser sum than he had hoped to recover. He
might seek to disregard the United States court’s judgment and instead to
sue afresh in England. Normally, a successful claimant overseas is
estopped from doing so by section 34 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments
Act of 1982, which provides that:
No proceedings may be brought by a person in England and Wales or Northern
Ireland on a cause of action in respect of which a judgment has been given in his
favour in proceedings between the same parties, or their privies, in a court in another
part of the United Kingdom or in a court in an overseas country, unless that judgment
is not enforceable or entitled to recognition in England and Wales or, as the case may
be, Northern Ireland.
In the case of a class action where the claimant did not know of the action
overseas and was awarded a sum of money with which he is not content,
the foreign judgment might be seen effectively as a burden on the
claimant. Accordingly, in such circumstances, it is suggested that the
same principles should apply as where the judgment is given in the defendant’s
favour. For the reasons given above, there is a good argument that
such a judgment should be recognised and enforced in England.
(ii) For a sum with which the claimant is satisfied
If the judgment were to be delivered in the claimant’s favour for a sum
with which he is satisfied, then it might not in any event be necessary for
the claimant to seek enforcement in England. The defendant will very frequently
have substantial assets in the US which can be foreclosed upon. In
any event, if efforts were made by a claimant who had not participated in
( 130 ) The Indian Grace (No 2) [1998] AC 878.