Alleged party

Law Debenture Trust Corporation v Elektrim Finance BV and others ChD TLR 4 August

The purpose of s72 of the Arbitration Act 1996 is to allow a challenge to the jurisdiction of the arbitrator by someone who has not yet participated in the proceedings. He was described as an ‘alleged’ party because it had not been determined whether he had that status. The key to s72(1) was the challenge to the jurisdiction. The basis of the permitted challenge under s72 was that the objecting person was not a party to what were ostensibly arbitration proceedings because those proceedings were not actually proceedings which could be asserted against him. It was in that sense that the word ‘alleged’ was used. Accordingly s72 was available to someone who argued that arbitral proceedings were not, or were no longer, capable of encompassing the dispute between him and another.