Jurisdiction of Parent Companies’ Home State Courts over Foreign Subsidiaries Abroad: A Comparative Approach between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Abstract

With the increasing trend on liabilities of multinational corporations through foreign direct liability claims, more and more cases are brought before the home state courts of parent companies. In such cases, the victims abroad would aim to bring litigation against both the subsidiary company which operations caused the damage to the victims, and the parent company which arguable owes a duty of care towards its subsidiary. Therefore, a case in tort of negligence is filed against both defendants before one and the same court, the home state’s court. Against this backdrop, the initial hurdle faced by the plaintiffs/claimants are issues regarding the jurisdiction of the court. This is particularly difficult when the defendant is a subsidiary based abroad, the plaintiffs are based abroad and the damage is abroad. This paper analysed the approach of the courts in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom based on existing and most recent case laws on the topic along with the applicable private international law, such as the Brussels I Recast Regulation that is binding on all European Union (EU) Member State.