⚖️ Court Refused to Recognize Nigerian Court Judgment Issued Nearly 20 Years Ago – A Detailed Look at Nigerian Procedural Law

In 2005, SPAO Ingosstrakh (the interested party) and Tahoma Enterprises Ltd. (the shipowner, Nigeria) entered into a shipowner's civil liability insurance contract, which also covered liability for cargo. Under the terms of the contract, all disputes were to be resolved by the Maritime Arbitration Commission (MAC) at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

In 2006, Gales Maritime Inc. (charterer) contracted with the shipowner to carry frozen fish to Nigeria for consignee Fiogret Ltd. (applicant). During a port call in Liberia, a fire damaged part of the cargo, leading the applicant to sue the shipowner and charterer in the Federal High Court of Lagos. The interested party was initially a defendant, then removed, and later joined as a third party, enabling enforcement against its assets.

In 2008, the court awarded over USD 1.6 million in damages to the applicant against the shipowner and charterer (Judgment No. 1), and simultaneously awarded the same amount in insurance indemnity against the interested party in favor of the shipowner and charterer (Judgment No. 2). The claim against the interested party was later assigned to the applicant for USD 1.

The applicant applied to the Arbitration Court of the City of Moscow for recognition and enforcement in Russia of Judgment No. 2. Among other things, the applicant stated that the Nigerian court had jurisdiction because the applicant was not a party to the arbitration agreement in favor of the MAC at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. The applicant also argued that the three-year time limit for seeking recognition and enforcement had not expired, since Judgment No. 2 had only become final after the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld it in 2021.

The interested party objected to the enforcement of the Nigerian judgment, relying inter alia on the following arguments:

👀Recognition of the judgment would be contrary to Russian public policy, because the Nigerian court had heard the dispute despite the arbitration agreement, and Judgment No. 2 had awarded insurance indemnity for a non-insurable event;

👀The interested party had not been properly notified of the proceedings in Nigeria: the courier service's report contained an error in the street name;

👀The time limit for filing the application for recognition of the foreign judgment had already expired, because Judgment No. 2 had become final at the time it was issued in 2008.

During the proceedings, the parties submitted expert opinions on Nigerian law that conflicted with each other. Upon the parties' motion, the court sent a request for an opinion to the Ministry of Justice of Nigeria, whose conclusions on 10 issues were set out in detail in the court's ruling. The opinion contains findings based on the 1958 New York Convention. The opinion has it all: we learned what Fi-Fa means (not football-related), that Nigeria has sheriffs, brushed up on French legal terms, and read American precedents. We are confident that the judge of the Arbitration Court of the City of Moscow is now fully armed to pass an exam on Nigerian procedure.

Having become well-versed in Nigerian law, the Arbitration Court of the City of Moscow rejected the applicant's arguments, relying primarily on the following grounds:

🔘When recognizing a foreign judgment, the court is not entitled to review the merits of the judgment itself, so the interested party's argument about the recovery of insurance indemnity for a non-insurable event was irrelevant;

🔘The Nigerian court had established proper notification of the interested party;

🔘Under Nigerian law, a judgment becomes final immediately upon its issuance, so Judgment No. 2 became final at the time it was issued in 2008, and the time limit for its recognition in Russia had already expired.

As a result, the Arbitration Court of the City of Moscow refused to recognize and enforce the Nigerian court judgment in Russia.

📎The judicial act is available via the link.

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Original see here