Arbitration and third parties: estoppel and abuse of process

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.

However, the Court of Appeal limited the injunction to disputes between the parties in their own capacities: the decision of O’Farrell J to extend the injunction to claims assigned to MWP from others, arising out of a related agreement, was overturned on the basis that there was no privity and that determination of whether the assigned claims were abusive was a matter for the New South Wales courts.