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Insider UK
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Peter A Walker

Scottish firm ordered to halt Kenyan legal action tea picker case

James Finlay Kenya (JFK) is being ordered to stop taking legal action in Kenya to block a lawsuit in Scotland.

More than 1,000 former and current employees of the company are suing for damages at the Court of Session.

Last month the firm won a temporary injunction from a court in Nairobi, stopping workers from pursing the case, but the BBC reports that a Scottish judge has now ruled JFK should be told to halt action in Kenya to allow the lawsuit in Scotland to get back on track.

The workers claim they suffered musculoskeletal injuries while working for Aberdeen-registered JFK at its farms in the Kericho region of Kenya.

Having failed to stop the class action lawsuit from going ahead, the company sought an order from the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi, arguing the Scottish case was an "an assault on the sovereignty of the Republic of Kenya" and violated the country's constitution.

The Kenyan court granted an interim anti-suit injunction, bringing the Scottish case to a temporary halt and preventing anyone else from joining the group action.

But lawyers acting for the tea pickers have now won an order from the Court of Session, telling JFK not to continue with the Kenyan action.

They argued that JFK's conduct has been calculated to intimidate the workers and prevent them from having lawful access to the Scottish courts for resolution of a bona fide dispute, accusing JFK of engaging in a "deliberate campaign to defeat the ends of justice and cause distress".

Lord Braid said the workers' lawyers had put forward a "strong prima facie case" that JFK's actions had been "vexatious and oppressive".

He added: "To quote the oft used phrase, justice delayed is justice denied.

"There is at the very least a serious doubt as to whether the group members would be able to bring substantive damages claims in Kenya."

Lord Braid said it had not been suggested in any way that Scotland's legal system was superior to Kenya's.

JFK's argument that Scottish courts do not have jurisdiction over Kenyan work injury claims will be heard at the Court of Session at a later date.

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