Andrew Stephenson provides an update on the effective service of proceedings in Anglo-Russian litigation
In Sloutsker v Romanova [2015] EWHC 545 (QB), [2015] All ER (D) 103 (Mar) Mr Justice Warby ruled that service of English proceedings had been validly effected in accordance with the Hague Service Convention notwithstanding that the Russian court had certified that the requisite documentation had not been served in Russia “by reason of the non-appearance” of the defendant.
Permission to serve out
The Sloutsker proceedings, a defamation case, had been issued in the High Court in London in November 2012. The defendant, domiciled out of the jurisdiction in Russia, declined through her English lawyers to accept service. The claimant was granted permission to serve the defendant in Russia. In accordance with the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters 1965 (the Hague Service Convention) the senior master in March 2013 issued a formal request to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for service of the requisite documentation with translations. The claimant was advised by the Foreign Process Section
