Spain, not backing down, won a nod in 2019 from the English justice system to execute the domestic verdict. But, like a twist in a thriller, November 2021 saw this decision swatted away by the English Court of Appeal, crushing Spain’s hopes of sovereign immunity.
Judge Butcher’s Verdict
High Court Judge Christopher Butcher pointed to the legal doctrine “res judicata”, akin to double jeopardy in crime dramas, saying that a matter settled once shouldn’t be raked up again. In this case, Spain’s colossal claim was already addressed in a 2013 arbitration, concluding that the U.K. insurer wasn’t on the spill’s hook.
Drawing lines in the sand, Judge Butcher declared, “Those two positions cannot co-exist in the English legal order.” It was as if two parallel universes collided, causing ripples in legal realms.
The EU Angle and Beyond
Spain hoped to play its trump card, a June 2022 European Court of Justice decision. However, Judge Butcher expertly deflected, siding with insurers who argued that arbitration didn’t fit neatly into the EU’s regulations about enforcing judgments across member states.
