In summer 2021, the German Federal Court of Justice ruled on a dispute between the insolvency administrator of the airline Air Berlin and its main shareholder Etihad Airways over millions in damages that had been going on for several years.

From a procedural point of view, the Federal Court’s findings on so-called “torpedo actions” are of particular importance, further limiting the scope of application of this litigation tactic.

A torpedo action is essentially an action that pre-empts an expected action by the other party in order to block it. A torpedo action is usually filed in a jurisdiction that promises either favorable case law or a particularly long duration of proceedings. This can considerably delay a legal dispute.

This is made possible by the principle of priority that applies to cross-border disputes and the jurisdiction of different courts. According to this principle, an action brought first before a competent court blocks all subsequent actions with identical subject matter before another court. If this torpedo action is brought in a less efficient jurisdiction with notoriously slow-working courts, the opponent’s action can be delayed by several years in some cases.

In order to put a stop to this abuse of rights, the

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