​Dexia Wins Against Patrimonio Del Trentino on the Exclusive Jurisdiction of the English Courts

Cleary Gottlieb wins with Dexia in London against Patrimonio del Trentino on the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

With a judgement published on 25 October 2024, which has just become final, the High Court of Justice of London rejected in its entirety the jurisdiction challenge with which Patrimonio del Trentino S.p.A., an in-house company of the Province of Trento, had contested the jurisdiction of the English courts to settle the dispute arisen with Dexia S.A. concerning the validity of a derivative contract signed in 2011.

The judgment is part of a complex dispute that Patrimonio del Trentino had brought against Dexia before the Civil Court of Rome in 2023, claiming that, following Brexit, the jurisdictional clause contained in the derivative contract was null and void because the dispute would have concerned “non-disposable rights” and, in any case, the Italian courts would have concurrent and prevailing jurisdiction.

Dexia, in turn, sued Patrimonio del Trentino before the High Court of London, asking it to ascertain the validity of the derivative and its own lack of liability on the assumption that the choice of forum clause was fully valid and conferred exclusive jurisdiction on the English courts.

Rejecting in full the claims, objections, and arguments of Patrimonio del Trentino, the High Court ruled that it has exclusive jurisdiction over the derivative contract, establishing that Patrimonio breached the relevant choice of forum clause when it brought the case before the Civil Court of Rome. The High Court also ruled out that the derivative contract was speculative in nature and that this prevented Patrimonio del Trentino from entering into it. In addition to ordering Patrimonio del Trentino to pay the legal costs of the jurisdictional phase, the High Court ordered that the trial should continue on its merits, while the Civil Court of Rome is expected to rule on its objected lack of jurisdiction following a hearing scheduled for January 2025.

This precedent, together with those recently obtained by Dexia in the disputes against the Metropolitan City of Milan and the Province of Brescia, may also have significant consequences in terms of hindering repeated attempts by Italian public and private entities to establish jurisdiction in Italy, despite the English jurisdiction clause in the ISDA Master Agreements.