High Court dismisses applications to set aside service out of the jurisdiction in novel proceedings under sections 130 and 149 of the Building Safety Act 2022

39 Essex Chambers’ barristers Kate Grange KC, Bernard Doherty and Camilla ter Haar acted as part of the Counsel team for a group of developers including HB(WM) Limited, Lendlease Residential (CG) Limited and Barratt Redrow Plc in applications brought by Sto SE & Co KGaA and Stotmeister Beteiligungs GmbH, entities domiciled in Germany. The applications included applications to set aside service out of the jurisdiction in three related sets of proceedings arising from the use of cladding products installed on 18 different high rise buildings. The underlying dispute gives rise to novel issues arising under sections 130 and 149 of the Building Safety Act 2022.

Moody J concluded, inter alia, that (i) permission was given to serve out in respect of the BSA section 149 claims; (ii) the Contribution Act claims have a real prospect of success; (iii) the Claimants have a real prospect of success in establishing that the correct approach is an applicable law analysis and principles of extra-territoriality are not relevant to the section 130 Contribution Act claim against SBG; (iv) the Claimants were not in breach of the duty of full and frank disclosure when seeking an extension of time for service of the claim form; (v) there was no good reason for an extension of time for service of the claim form, but this point was conceded by the Defendants as part of a compromise agreement; (vi) The applications to set aside service out of the jurisdiction are dismissed.

Kate Grange KC, Sa’ad Hossain KC (One Essex Court), Bernard Doherty and Camilla ter Haar were instructed by Ashurst Perkins Coie UK LLP

The judgment can be read: here