Arbitration Law Monthly

It is increasingly common for dispute resolution procedures to set out a series of separate steps for voluntary settlement, culminating with arbitration if no agreement is reached. In Wah and Another v Grant Thornton International Ltd and Others [2012] EWHC 3198 (Ch) Hildyard J set out the principles which determine whether the pre-arbitration mediation steps have to be taken as a condition precedent to arbitration or whether it is open to a party to submit the dispute to arbitration even though the steps have not been taken.

In Moondance Maritime Enterprises SA v Carbofer Maritime Trading APS [2012] EWHC 3618 (Comm) Field J considered applications under sections 70(6) and 70(7) of the Arbitration Act 1996. Those sections apply to an appeal against an award, and, respectively, empower the court to require the provision by the appellant to provide security for the respondent’s costs of the appeal and to order payment into court of the sum awarded. The judgment considers the conditions applicable to these matters.

International Research Corporation plc v Lufthansa Systems Asia Pacific Pte Ltd and Another [2012] SGHC 226, a decision of Chan Seng Onn J in the Singapore High Court, raised a series of familiar problems. Can an arbitration clause bind a third party? When is an arbitration clause to be regarded as incorporated into an agreement between two different parties?

Interserve Industrial Services Ltd v ZRE Katowice SA [2012] EWHC 3205 (TCC), a decision of HHJ David Grant, raised a question of construction. Where the parties had agreed to refer disputes under their contract to arbitration, and disputes have arisen and have been settled, are any further disputes under the settlement also subject to an obligation to go to arbitration? On the facts of the present case, the answer was a positive one.