Definition

Forum-shopping (Ro.: căutarea instanţei celei mai favorabile, Fr.: course aux tribunaux, n.f.) (See also: concurrent jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, transnational litigation) = a litigant’s practice of searching for the most favourable court to hear her or his case, when several courts have concurrent jurisdiction over the matter, i.e. when two or more courts are authorised to entertain and decide cases dealing with the same subject matter. 

For example, in the legal proceedings arising out of carriage of goods under the CMR (Convention Relating to the Contract of Carriage of Goods by Road), the plaintiff may bring an action in any court or tribunal of a contracting country designated by agreement between the parties and, in addition, in the courts or tribunals of a country within whose territory: (a) The defendant is ordinarily resident, or has his principal place of business, or the branch or agency through which the contract of carriage was made, or (b) The place where the goods were taken over by the carrier or the place designated for delivery is situated. 

 

Useful resources

Legislation

http://legeaz.net/noul-cod-de-procedura-civila - Articles 113, 116 and 1080 from The Romanian Code of civil procedure [Romanian]

Regulation (EC) No. 593 / 2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I), Official Journal L 177,  July 4, 2008, p. 6, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32008R0593 [English]

Regulation (EC) No 864 / 2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 11, 2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II), Official Journal L 199, July 31, 2007, p. 40, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32007R0864 [English]

Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) – Article 31, available at http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/un.cmr.road.carriage.contract.convention.1956/doc.html [English]

Case law

http://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?language=en&num=C-256/09 - Bianca Purrucker v Guillermo Vallés Pérez (Case C-256/09), European Court of Justice, July 15, 2010 

Online publications

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/prebuilt/pdf/SchoolLaw/LawReviewLibrary/09_24QLR25(2005-2006).pdf, Maloy, R., Forum shopping? What's wrong with that?

http://blogs.law.nyu.edu/transnational/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Forum-Shopping-in-the-International-Commercial-Arbitration-Context-with-Index.pdf, Ferrari, F., Forum Shopping in the International Commercial Arbitration Context: Setting the Stage

Publications

Ghei, N., 2011, Forum Shopping and the Evolution of Rules of Choice of Law, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1786715

Moss, G., Smith, R.L., 2011,  Forum shopping: is the England and Wales Patents Court really a non-starter for patentees?,  Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice 6 (10), p. 715-722, available at http://jiplp.oxfordjournals.org/content/6/10/715.abstract?sid=45a3ca14-ea98-4a07-867a-c5a71c0ebca2.

Ringe, W.G., 2008, Forum Shopping Under the EU Insolvency Regulation, Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 33/2008, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1209822

Tsang, K. F., 2010, Forum Shopping in European Insurance Litigation: A Comparison Between Jurisdictional Rules in the European Union and the United States, 32 Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review 239, 267 

 

By Rucsandra Grigoroaia