Arbitration Law Monthly

Part 72 of the Civil Procedure Rules sets out the requirements for a Third Party Debt Order. This type of order, previously known as a garnishee order, empowers a judgment creditor to enforce the judgment against a judgment debtor with limited or no assets in England by intercepting a debt owed to the judgment debtor by a third party.

In Halliburton Co v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd and Others [2018] EWCA Civ 817 the Court of Appeal has upheld the first instance decision of Popplewell J in refusing to dismiss an arbitrator who had been appointed by solicitors for the same party in related proceedings.

The New York Convention, implemented in England by the Arbitration Act 1996, sets out a public policy defence to an application for the enforcement of an overseas award. In RBRG Trading (UK) Ltd v Sinocore International Co Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 838 the Court of Appeal has reconsidered the principles applicable to the operation of the defence.

The substantive question before Picken J in Uttam Galva Steels Ltd v Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd [2018] EWHC 1098 (Comm) was whether an arbitration clause in a contract of sale extended to disputes arising under bills of exchange issued in accordance with the contract of sale, a matter that has been litigated on a number of occasions in Singapore. The case also raised interesting questions about the status of a jurisdictional ruling made by the arbitrator and the time at which an objection to jurisdiction had to be first raised.

The lengthy decision of Popplewell J in Reliance Industries Ltd and Another v The Union of India [2018] EWHC 822 (Comm) considers a range of challenges to an arbitration award, and there is much useful discussion on the scope of the individual heads of serious irregularity under section 68. Perhaps of greatest interest is, however, the court’s analysis of jurisdiction as it applies to the principle of non-justiciability of acts of state.