Appointing an arbitrator: failure of the appointment process

Silver Dry Bulk Co Ltd v Homer Hulbert Maritime Co Ltd [2017] EWHC 44 (Comm) involved a rather unusual set of facts, involving the commencement of an arbitration against a company that had ceased to exist. The issues for Males J were whether there had been a failure of the appointment process so that the court could itself give directions for appointment under section 18 of the Arbitration Act 1996, and also whether third parties could be ordered under sections 43 and 44 of the 1996 Act to produce documents for the purposes of the arbitration.

Silver Dry : the facts