Funtime Creations Ltd v Photo-Me International Plc & Ors. [2007] EWHC 47 (QB)
Jurisdiction - Employment Contracts
Edward Cohen - This was a decision of Judge Hegarty QC in the Manchester Mercantile Court on an application made by Edward on behalf of one of the parties challenging the jurisdiction of the Court. The main issue was whether the claims in question were claims "In matters relating to individual contracts of employment" so as to give exclusive jurisdiction in this case to Northern Ireland. The Judge granted the application on the basis that all of the claims made apart from one minor claim related to individual contracts of employment, even though the causes of action were not all expressed as claims for breach of a contract of employment but also included allegations of conspiracy and breaches of fiduciary duty. The Judge held that the Court should consider not so much the technical causes of action alleged but rather whether as a matter of substance the claim was essentially tortious or one relating to a contract of employment. There was also a useful analysis of the law relating to submission to the jurisdiction, a further argument unsuccessfully advanced to resist the jurisdictional challenge.