GREAT STATION PROPERTIES SA V UMS HOLDING LTD (NO 2)

[2017] EWHC 2473 (Comm), Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court, Teare J, 6 October 2017

Arbitration - Application for permission to appeal against rejection of challenge to award - Interim order for costs - Confidentiality following public hearing of appeal - Arbitration Act 1996, section 68(4)

On 5 October 2017 Teare J handed down a judgment dismissing an appeal under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 against an arbitration award. In the present proceedings three issues arose. (1) The respondents sought permission to appeal under section 68(4) on three grounds: there was a conflict of opinion between judges of the Commercial Court as to whether in an exceptional case a serious irregularity within section 68 could extend to a failure to take account of evidence; there was a real prospect that the Court of Appeal might take a different view of the question whether the tribunal disregarded evidence; and there was a real prospect that the Court of Appeal might take a different view on the question whether the tribunal had reached a conclusion that was manifestly illogical. (2) The claimants sought an interim payment on account of costs. (3) The respondents sought an order that any document that a party was obliged to keep confidential pursuant to article 30.1 of the LCIA Rules 1998, including the award, could not be used by that party for any purpose other than the present proceedings, or disclosed to any third party, solely on the basis that the document had been read to or by the court, or referred to, in the course of the hearing.