Arbitration Law Monthly

It is common for the parties to a contract containing an arbitration clause to settle any disputes under that contract by a voluntary settlement agreement containing its own dispute resolution procedures. The issue in Monde Petroleum SA v WesternZagros Ltd [2015] EWHC 67 (Comm) was whether the arbitration clause revived if the settlement agreement was to be set aside.

The procedures for challenging an award for want of jurisdiction are clearly set out in the Arbitration Act 1996. Under section 67 there is a right of appeal against an award on the ground of want of jurisdiction. However, there is a 28-day time limit for an appeal. If no appeal is brought within that period, the award can be enforced by an application under section 66 of the 1996 Act.

In Rochester Resources Ltd and Others v Lebedev and Another [2014] EWHC 2926 (Comm), Jonathan Hirst QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, was asked to grant an anti-suit injunction to restrain judicial proceedings in New York as they were allegedly in breach of an arbitration clause. The question for the court was whether parties to the agreement containing the arbitration clause, and the arbitration clause itself – which were companies – had acted on behalf of the individuals who allegedly controlled those companies and who were parties to the New York litigation.

In Transgrain Shipping BV v Deiulemar Shipping SpA (The Eleni P) [2014] EWHC 4202 (Comm) Teare J faced a tricky problem as to which of two sets of conflicting arbitration provisions adopted by the parties was pertinent to their dispute. Teare J opted for the BIMCO clause rather than the parties’ own wording. That gave rise to a further problem as to whether the arbitrators had been properly appointed.

The main question in Libero Commodities SA v Augustin [2015] EWHC 1815 (Comm) was whether a written request for arbitration under the Bylaws of the International Cotton Association (ICA) was valid in the absence of the payment of the relevant fee to the ICA. Christopher Butcher QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, held that the ICA Bylaws properly construed did not make payment a condition precedent to the valid commencement of the arbitration.