Incorporation of terms and approbation and reprobation

In MPB v LGK [2020] EWHC 90 (TCC) Veronique Buehrlen QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, dismissed the claimant’s application to set aside an arbitral award under s67 of the Arbitration Act 1996 on the ground that there was no arbitration agreement in existence between the parties. She held that the defendant’s terms and conditions, which included the arbitration agreement, had been validly incorporated into the contract between the parties. It therefore followed that the arbitrator did have jurisdiction. But, even if she had concluded that they had not been so incorporated, she would have concluded that the defendant was prevented by the doctrine of approbation and reprobation from taking the point that there was no arbitration agreement applicable to the relationship between the parties.