Exit, Stage 2, for the plaintiff in service out of jurisdiction?: Oro Negro Drilling Pte Ltd v Integradora de Servicios Petroleros Oro Negro SAPI de CV [2020] 1 SLR 226

• Main Author: YEO, Tiong Min
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: conflict of laws; private international law; jurisdiction; service out of jurisdiction; access to justice; Asian Studies; Dispute Resolution and Arbitration; Jurisdiction
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3735
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In Oro Negro Drilling Pte Ltd v Integradora de Servicios Petroleros Oro Negro SAPI de CV [2020] 1 SLR 226, the Singapore Court of Appeal in an observation cast doubt on the legal possibility of the plaintiff obtaining leave for service out of jurisdiction where Singapore is not the natural forum but substantial injustice would result from trial in the clearly more appropriate foreign court. This is part of Stage 2 of the traditional test in Spiliada Maritime Corp v Cansulex Ltd [1987] AC 460 that has informed the exercise of jurisdiction of the Singapore court for many years. This note argues that the doubt is unfounded.