Vilhena Shipping Ltd. v. Agro-hall Ltd.

This was an application by the Defendant to dismiss the proceedings or, alternatively, for a stay of proceedings. The ground for the application was that the Plaintiff had commenced parallel proceedings for the same relief in France. The Plaintiff had attempted to withdraw those proceedings but this was not allowed by the French Tribunal. Under the circumstances the Prothonotary declined to dismiss the Plaintiff’s action since it was possible that the Plaintiff’s application to withdraw the French proceedings would be allowed on appeal. However, the Prothonotary did order that the action be stayed to avoid duplication of costs and the risk of conflicting judgements.