International Forum Shopping and Transnational Lawsuits

International forum shopping in disputes on liability can be a legitimate procedural strategy for plaintiffs in looking for a favourable jurisdiction. But it demands careful consideration of the pros and cons. In particular, the assumption that the selected court will prefer its own law in any case is not always honoured. The true (and more reliable) motives for forum shopping are aiming at the procedural climate in the selected forum state that seems favourable to the plaintiff (in the case of U.S. courts: jury trial, pre-trial discovery, and class actions). The defendant has but a limited number of remedies and procedural tactics to react upon the claimant’s forum shopping or anticipate it – which requires imagination and skilful reflection of all the conceivable steps to be taken by the plaintiff: ADR, anti-suit injunctions (only rarely available in continental Europe, however), declaratory actions for denial, torpedo suits, and, sometimes, the forum-non-conveniens objection. In order to keep undue excesses in forum shopping under control, it seems necessary that the international community, too, in conventions and treaties, agrees on reducing the choices and on banning exorbitant jurisdictions in national laws