DAEWOO SHIPBUILDING AND MARINE ENGINEERING CO LTD v SONGA OFFSHORE EQUINOX LTD AND ANOTHER

[2020] EWHC 2353 (TCC), Technology and Construction Court, Jefford J, 1 September 2020

Challenge to arbitral award – Sections 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 – Trial of preliminary issues – Whether parties had entered into agreement which precluded further claims

The claimant sought to challenge an arbitral award under sections 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996. The dispute between the parties was first referred to arbitration by way of a preliminary issue in relation to the allocation of responsibility for the design of the project on which the parties were engaged. The arbitral tribunal found that it was the claimant which bore that responsibility and so it lost on the preliminary issue. The claimant then sought to amend its claim to advance a claim for costs and extensions of time on the basis that the defendants had failed to co-operate in the correction of the alleged errors in the design. The arbitrators, by a majority, declined to give the claimant permission to amend its claim. The claimant appealed to court but Jefford J dismissed the appeal.