Date of Birth: 1964Date of Call: 1987
Silk Date: 2006
Languages: French
General Information
M.A., B.C.L. (Oxon)
Practice
Stephen Kenny practices in all areas of commercial law, particularly marine and non-marine insurance, reinsurance, shipping and carriage of goods by road, sea and air, international trade and trade finance, asset financing, ship sales, professional negligence; and the law relating to arbitrations. He advises on all aspects of commercial disputes, and acts as an advocate both in court and in arbitration. In 2001 “The Lawyer” magazine identified him as one of their top ten juniors at the commercial bar. He took silk in 2006.
Recent Cases
Stephen Kenny has recently been advising the Corporation of Lloyds in relation to disciplinary proceedings; and has also advised a number of Lloyd’s syndicates/ integrated Lloyd’s vehicles on potential claims against their professional advisers. He has also acted for Equitas, on the instructions of Freshfields, in connection with a year of account allocation dispute.
He continues to be active in shipping litigation and arbitration: in the last year he has advised or acted for Cosco, Vitol, Glencore, EDF Trading, Lauritzen, Fratelli d’Amato, Corus and BHP Billiton, among others.
In CGU International v Astrazeneca [2005] EWHC 2755 (Comm), [2006] Lloyd’s Rep. IR 409 (Cresswell J), Stephen acted (together with Christopher Butcher QC, on the instructions of Lovells) for the claimant reinsurers, overturning an arbitration award made against them. Held, that a US service of suit clause in the underlying policy, which obliged the insurer to submit to and abide by the outcome of US proceedings, did not affect the scope of coverage afforded by the insurance or the reinsurance, both of which were governed by English law. Leave for a further appeal to the Court of Appeal was refused. An application for permission to appeal against that refusal raised interesting arguments about the Court of Appeal’s power under the Human Rights Act 1998 to review “unappealable” decisions – see [2006] EWCA Civ 1340, [2007] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 142 (C.A.) – but was also ultimately refused.
Other recent reported cases have concerned jurisdiction disputes and the application of the complex of rules in Council Regulation (EC) 44/2001, in the Brussels and Lugano Conventions and in the CMR.
• In Royal and Sun Alliance and another v MK Digital and others [2006] EWCA Civ 629, [2006] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 110 (C.A.) he acted for claimants seeking to sustain English jurisdiction in relation to a claim of non-liability by a French road transport operator.
• In Mora Shipping v Axa [2005] EWCA Civ 1069, [2005] 2 Lloyd’s 769 (C.A.) he acted for claimants asserting that a claim under a general average guarantee given by European insurers was subject to English jurisdiction.
• In Standard Steamship Owners Protection & Indemnity Association v GIE Vision Bail [2004] EWHC 2457 (Comm), [2005] Lloyds’ Rep. IR 407 (Cooke J) he acted for Louis Duty Free Shops, an operator of concessions on Festival Cruise Lines vessels. Cover for its employees had been placed by Festival’s brokers with a P&I Club, which (on Festival’s default) claimed against Louis Duty Free Shops for unpaid calls. The jurisdictional dispute centred on whether an exclusive jurisdiction clause in the Club’s Rules was binding on Louis Duty Free Shops.
In Thor Navigation v Ingosstrakh Insurance [2005] EWHC 19, [2005] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 547 (Gloster J) he acted on the instructions of Holman Fenwick & Willan for the claimant, whose hull and machinery policy on its trading vessel “Thor II” was found by the Court to be an unvalued policy. A claim to rectify the policy failed.
In European International Reinsurance Company v Curzon he was instructed by Freshfields for the claimants (an associated company of Swiss Re) in a claim to avoid an asbestos liability reinsurance cover of some £166m. After almost three months of trial in the Commercial Court, where he was led by Gavin Kealey QC, the case settled (early 2004).
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