An anti-suit injunction is an order issued by a court or arbitral tribunal that prevents an opposing party from commencing or continuing a legal proceeding in another jurisdiction or forum.[1][2][3] It is among the means available to address the problem of parallel proceedings or forum shopping, whether they are current or anticipated.[2]
In The Angelic Grace (1995) the English High Court granted an anti-suit injunction preventing a claimant pursuing litigation in Italy when arbitration proceedings had been agreed and already commenced within England and Wales.[4]
In recent years[when?] many jurisdictions have placed a high standard to obtain when seeking an anti-suit injunction, such as where the proceedings are "oppressive or vexatious". Furthermore, in proceedings prior to the 2015 milestone decision in the case of "Gazprom" OAO v Lietuvos Respublika,[5] often called the Gazprom case, anti-suit injunctions were considered inapplicable in litigation[6] or arbitration[7][8] among EU member states. The issue being addressed concerned was whether it applied to arbitration, being excluded from the Brussels Convention. This was resolved in the Gazprom case and the specifics of the exclusion were covered in recital 12 of Brussels recast, therefore the current[when?] position is that anti-suit injunctions can be issued by EU arbitration tribunals and upheld by Courts of Justice of EU member states.
↑Raphael, Thomas (2008). The anti-suit injunction. Oxford private international law series. Oxford: New York: Oxford University Press. p.1. ISBN978-0-19-928732-1. An anti-suit injunction, in its most typical form, orders a party to cease to pursue court proceedings abroad.
12"Anti‑Suit Injunctions: International Adjudication". Oxford Public International Law. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 July 2025. An anti-suit injunction is an order issued by a court or tribunal at the request of one party designed to prevent another party from commencing or maintaining a legal proceeding in another forum, particularly a foreign forum. It is among the different means available to manage the problem of actual or potential parallel proceedings.
↑Eixenberger, Jorge L.; Eixenberger, Michael A. (2017), "The Anti-Suit Injunction – A Transnational Remedy for Multi-jurisdictional SEP Litigation", The Cambridge Handbook of Technical Standardization Law: Competition, Antitrust, and Patents, Cambridge Law Handbooks, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.451–451, ISBN978-1-107-12966-5, retrieved 30 July 2025, An anti-suit injunction is an interlocutory remedy issued by a court in one jurisdiction which prohibits a litigant from initiating or continuing parallel litigation in another jurisdiction or jurisdictions.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
↑Sebastiano Nessi, "Anti-suit and Anti-arbitration Injunctions in International Commercial Arbitration: The Swiss Approach", in SAA Series on International Arbitration, Vol. 3, Selected Papers on International Arbitration, Bern, Stämpfli, 2013
↑Allianz SpA (formerly Riunione Adriatica di Sicurta SpA) v West Tankers Inc (C-185/07) [2009] 1 AC 1138
