Appealing against the award: serious irregularity and error of law

Latvian Shipping Co v Russian People’s Insurance Company (ROSNO) Open Ended Joint Stock Company (The Ojars Vacietis [2012] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 181 was a case in which arbitrators dismissed a claim for damage to the propeller of a vessel on the ground that the assured had not proved that the damage as a whole had occurred at a time when the vessel was insured, even though there was a possibility that a part of the damage had occurred at that time.

The assured’s contention was that the arbitrators should have adopted a “broad brush” approach and awarded at least some of the loss. Field J, dismissing appeals for procedural error under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, and for error of law under section 69, held that the assured’s case had been all or nothing and the arbitrators had not erred in any way by taking the same approach.