Large arbitral awards have generally given rise to multi-jurisdictional post-award litigation (see Yukos). The Deutsche Telekom v India saga is a similar instance, with the Republic of India (“India”) having challenged the arbitral awards before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“seat court”) and the courts in Germany, Singapore, and the United States (“US”) (“enforcement courts”)….

On 1 November 2023, the English High Court (“EWHC”) delivered its decision in Hulley Enterprises Limited v. Russian Federation. The EWHC dismissed the jurisdictional challenge raised by the Russian Federation (“RF”), which contested the enforcement of arbitral awards in favour of the former majority shareholders of OAO Yukos Oil Company (“Yukos”). Despite the RF asserting…

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court of Western Australia (“WA”) Court of Appeal confirmed that courts have the conclusive authority to determine the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals. The Commercial Arbitration Act 2012 (WA) (the “Act”) confers competence upon arbitral tribunals to determine their own jurisdiction. However, courts retain authority to review questions of jurisdiction….

On 27 October 2020, the Egyptian Court of Cassation (“Court”) rendered a ground-breaking judgment that is demonstrative of the Court’s appreciation of ongoing global developments in the field of arbitration (a courtesy translation prepared by the author of this post is available here). The case pertains to a domestic construction dispute under a subcontract that…

On June 1, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA. The Court held that the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”) does not prohibit a Contracting State from applying the domestic law doctrine…

The recent English High Court decision in Carpatsky Petroleum Corporation v PJSC Ukrnafta [2020] EWHC 769 (Comm) provides useful guidance on the English courts’ approach to determining whether a party is entitled to resist the enforcement of an award on one of the grounds set out in s. 103(2) of the Arbitration Act 1996 (which…

On 20 January 2020, the Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v. Kout Food Group (Kuwait) [2020] EWCA Civ 6. This post will focus on the Court’s findings on “no oral modification” (“NOM”) clauses and the impact that such clauses have on whether non-signatories to a commercial contract can be bound…

In the recently rendered Oded Besserglik v Mozambique award (“Award”), after 5 years of proceedings and millions in costs and expenses, a tribunal accepted a Motion to Dismiss and declined jurisdiction over the dispute for the relevant treaty never entered into force. Despite the fact that Mozambique prevailed on its motion, this case raises several…

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recently ruled that initiation of a second arbitration from the same contract violates the principle of legal certainty which forms part of the Russian ordre public (Ruling of the Supreme Court of Russian Federation dated 27.09.2017 docket number N 310-ЭС17-5655, А54-3603/2016). The reasoning of the decision is comparable to the…

In a conventional investment dispute, the claimant seeks compensation for the impairment of its substantive investment in the territory of the host state. Swissbourgh Diamond Mines (Pty) Ltd v Lesotho arose out of mining investments made by the claimants in Lesotho in the 1990s. However, this arbitral proceeding was not concerned directly with the impairment…

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington has enforced a settlement between a Jones Act seaman and his employer for maintenance and cure payments, pursuant to the 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”). Castro v. Tri Marine Fish Co., LLC, 2017…

ICSID tribunals have refused to hear the merits of investment treaty claims if a corrupt act was involved in contract formation, even where that corruption involved state actors. Consequently, the arbitral system—which was designed to ensure the neutral and apolitical resolution of investment disputes, inadvertently incentivizes states to “promote a corruption scheme in order to…

On 5 November 2014, the French Cour de Cassation, overruled a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal for having reversed the burden of proof in a case involving a non-participating party. With this victory before the French Supreme Court, Yukos Capital (“Yukos”) is one step closer to the enforcement of an arbitral award against…

In the recent case of OMV Petrom SA v Glencore International AG [2014] EWHC 242 (Comm) (07 February 2014) (“Petrom v Glencore”), the English Commercial Court was faced with the question of whether issues arising and decided in an arbitration should be treated as settled in subsequent court proceedings brought by a non-party to the…

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (the Court) recently upheld a decision enforcing an arbitral award made by three London arbitrators (Gujarat NRE Coke Limited v. Coeclerici Asia (Pte) Ltd [2013] FCAFC 109). The Court dismissed the appeal confirming that the arbitrators did not deny the appellants procedural fairness and did not…

On Thursday, 13 January 2011, France revealed its long-awaited new arbitration law. The décret n° 2011-48 portant réforme de l’arbitrage, was published in France’s Official Journal, alongside a report commenting on the reform. The new law can be found here, as well as the accompanying commentary here. The reform concerns both domestic and international arbitration…