Duty free forum shopping: disputing venue in the Pacific

Abstract

This article considers how the basic principles of forum non conveniens and the granting of anti-suit injunctions[1] have been adopted and applied in some Pacific island courts. As developed in common law countries these procedural tools have incorporated principles restricting both plaintiffs' and defendants' choice of forum, and have imposed obligations on both parties that aim to ensure, as far as possible, a procedurally neutral setting for determining the litigation. It is argued that Fiji and Vanuatu decisions either ignore some of these obligations or misapply them so that the procedures do not serve as adequate restraints on local litigants' forum shopping strategies.