Arbitration Law Monthly

The Court of Appeal in Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd v Emmott [2018] EWCA Civ 51 has upheld in part the first instance judgment of O’Farrell J, [2016] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 21 granting an anti-suit injunction to MWP from maintaining proceedings in New South Wales when many of the issues at stake had earlier been determined in an arbitration between the parties.

In Slovak Republic v Achmea BV Case C-284/16, the CJEU has confirmed that an arbitral tribunal is not a national court or tribunal for the purposes of the Treaty for European Union and accordingly cannot make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union for the determination of points of law relating to the Treaty.

In P v Q and Others [2017] EWHC 194 (Comm), Popplewell J considered the extent to which an arbitral tribunal can delegate its functions to the Secretary appointed by the tribunal. The judgment is a valuable one, as it is the first detailed analysis of the role of the Chairman and the Secretary in the conduct of contemporary international commercial arbitration.

The horrendously complicated facts of Stockman Interhold SA v Arricano Real Estate plc [2017] EWHC 2909 (Comm), facing Christopher Hancock QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, gave rise to an important and little-discussed question. Where an award is remitted to the arbitrator on the ground that there has been an irregularity in the proceedings, does the arbitrator obtain jurisdiction over matters arising after the issuing of the original award?