Chubb Bermuda v Fertitta Entertainment: High Court grants final anti-suit injunction and awards damages for Louisiana arbitration breach

The Commercial Court has granted final anti-suit injunction relief and awarded damages exceeding US$700,000 against a group of American hospitality companies that repeatedly sought to litigate in Louisiana in breach of a London arbitration agreement. The judgement in Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd v Fertitta Entertainment, Inc & Ors [2026] EWHC 1392 (Comm), handed down by Mr Justice Bright on 9 June 2026, also dismissed the defendants' challenge to English jurisdiction, which the court found to rest on a false premise.

The dispute arose from a property insurance policy issued by Chubb Bermuda to Fertitta Entertainment and sixteen associated entities, covering the period May 2019 to May 2020. The policy, placed through a Bermuda broker, provided cover up to US$200 million in excess of US$250 million, as part of a wider US$500 million tower. When the defendants suffered losses following COVID-19 related closures, they notified their insurers and commenced proceedings in Louisiana seeking business interruption coverage.

The policy contained an arbitration clause requiring all disputes to be finally determined in London under the Arbitration Act 1996, with the arbitration agreement expressly governed by the laws of England and Wales. A separate clause providing for submission to US court jurisdiction had been expressly deleted from the policy. Notwithstanding this, the defendants sought to add Chubb Bermuda as a defendant in Louisiana proceedings in January 2025.

Chubb Bermuda commenced proceedings before the Commercial Court and obtained an interim anti-suit injunction from Jacobs J later that month. The injunction was continued by consent order on two occasions to allow settlement discussions, but those discussions proved unfruitful. What followed was a prolonged campaign by the defendants to frustrate the English proceedings through successive Louisiana injunctions. In August 2025, two days after filing a jurisdictional challenge before this court, the defendants obtained a without-notice temporary restraining order in Louisiana restraining Chubb Bermuda from pursuing both the English action and any arbitration. A further Louisiana injunction followed in September 2025.

Chubb Bermuda appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In December 2025, the Fifth Circuit allowed the appeal and dismissed the Louisiana case against Chubb Bermuda for lack of personal jurisdiction. The defendants' application for a re-hearing was denied in January 2026. Within weeks, the defendants commenced fresh Louisiana proceedings raising substantially the same arguments, including a contention that the arbitration clause was void under Louisiana law and that Chubb Bermuda had waived its right to arbitrate by litigating in London.

Mr Justice Bright dealt with the jurisdiction challenge by applying the principles in Enka and UniCredit Bank GmbH v RusChemAlliance LLC [2024] UKSC 30. Because the parties had expressly agreed that the existence and validity of the arbitration agreement would be governed by English law, the Louisiana statutory provision relied upon by the defendants, La. R.S. 22:868, was simply irrelevant. Whether it might invalidate an arbitration clause governed by Louisiana law was beside the point; it had no application where English law governed. The jurisdiction challenge was accordingly dismissed.

On the anti-suit injunction itself, the court found the arbitration agreement valid and its scope wide enough to cover all matters the defendants sought to litigate in Louisiana. No strong reasons had been advanced for refusing injunctive relief. The argument that the underlying dispute had closer connections to Louisiana was noted and rejected, following QBE Europe SA/NV v Generali España [2022] EWHC 2062 (Comm): the parties' contractual choice of forum is not to be overridden by forum conveniens considerations, still less by a foreign court's mandatory rules that do not govern the clause in question.

The defendants did not appear at the final hearing. Mr Justice Bright awarded damages of US$709,052.88 representing the claimant's US legal costs from August 2025 in resisting the Louisiana proceedings, noting the absence of any challenge to quantum. Costs of the English action were awarded on the indemnity basis and summarily assessed at £444,516.16. The defendants were ordered to procure the dismissal of the 3rd Louisiana Proceedings by 19 June 2026.

Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd v Fertitta Entertainment, Inc & Ors [2026] EWHC 1392 (Comm). Andon Dudnikov KC (Clyde & Co LLP) for the claimant. The defendants did not appear.