THE CHALLENGE OF FORUM SHOPPING AND THE PRINCIPLE OF PRIORITY AS CONTROLLING THE EXERCISE OF CONCURRENT JURISDICTION

Abstract

On December 30, 2024, the Federal High Court (FHC) made an interim ex-parte order in favour of First Bank of Nigeria Plc (FBN). The order directed the freezing of the accounts of a certain General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL) in certain sums alleged as the indebtedness of GHL to FBN. Preceding the making of this order, GHL had at the same FHC filed earlier suit against FBN. The court had in this earlier suit after due contest inter partes, made in favour of GHL, preservative orders against FBN. Notwithstanding the pendency of the earlier suit and the orders made therein, FBN filed the later suit against GHL and obtained far reaching ex parte orders against it. The practice of forum shopping allows litigants to file their actions in jurisdictions they perceive they have a comparative advantage either in terms of remedies, procedure, evidence, judicial attitude or prospect of obtaining the best outcome. However, this principle of forum shopping is subject to the principle of priority as controlling the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction. This paper which sought to harmonise the rules regulating both concepts, explained that the jurisdiction of a court to adjudicate a species of dispute might be exclusive to it, concurrent with the jurisdiction of another court to encompass the same species of dispute. The paper highlighted that if two courts have concurrent jurisdiction in a matter, once one of them assumes jurisdiction, the other may not exercise jurisdiction in the same matter. The jurisdiction of the second court must abate. The paper dealt with the rule of priority as related to plaintiff’s choice of court and the necessity of similarity of actions, and explained that simultaneous exercise of jurisdiction over a case involving the same subject matter and same parties by more than one court may be prevented by various procedural means including a stay of proceeding of the later action. The paper then examined the application of the rule of priority in specific cases, and in qualifying the application of the principle of priority, explained that the priority principle applies when an action brought in one court is the same as one pending in another court of concurrent jurisdiction. Consequently, the priority principle applies only if the court that first assumed jurisdiction has the case still pending before it.
Keywords:
Choice of court; Concurrent jurisdiction; Exclusive jurisdiction; Forum shopping; Jurisdiction; Priority