Against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, numerous commercial disputes have arisen. In a (further) significant ruling dated 1 June 2023, the Higher Regional Court Berlin (Kammergericht or the “Court”) reinforced the integrity of arbitration by confirming the admissibility of arbitration to the exclusion of (Russian) state courts (Case No. 12 SchH 5/22)….
On 4 July 2024, Russia’s Arbitrazh Court of the North-Western Region (cassation) confirmed the earlier decision of the Arbitrazh Court of Saint Petersburg (first instance) to grant an anti-suit injunction prohibiting German Uniper Global Commodities SE (“Uniper”) and Methanhandel GmbH (“Metha”) from continuing ad hoc arbitration proceedings in Stockholm (Case No. А56-16212/2024). The reasons behind…
In November 2022, a contract-based arbitral tribunal issued an anti-arbitration injunction with the aim of enjoining parallel investment treaty proceedings between the parties. This post examines this injunction – which was ignored by the investment-treaty tribunal – and its implications. Background In March 2020, Patel Engineering Limited (“PEL”), an Indian-incorporated infrastructure and construction service…
Can a court restrain a State from pursuing civil proceedings in a foreign jurisdiction? This was the question before the English High Court in UK P&I Club N.V. and United Kingdom Mutual Steam Ship Assurance Association Ltd v República Bolivariana de Venezuela RCGS “Resolute” [2022] EWHC 1655 (Comm). UK P&I Club N.V. (the “English Club”)…
In 2021, Southeast Asia saw institutional progress, arbitration-related court decisions, and investment treaty developments. All in all, it was an eventful and, at times, surprising year for the region in terms of arbitration developments. Institutional progress Some Southeast Asian arbitral institutions revamped and revised their arbitration rules as part of their strategic institutional development….
In mid-2020, changes were enacted to the Russian Arbitrazh (Commercial) Procedure Code (“APC”) which established the exclusive jurisdiction of Russian Arbitrazh courts over cases where a Russian party is subject to sanctions or where the dispute has arisen out of sanctions. This raised concerns that sanctioned Russian parties would be able to easily avoid arbitration…
The “2019 in Review: India” started with a quote from Jeff Bezos that the 21st century belongs to India. Little did we know then that, one year later, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon would be fighting tooth and nail in a SIAC arbitration and related litigation in the Indian courts to claim a share of the burgeoning…
A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court (Calcutta HC) recently delivered a judgement in Balasore Alloys Ltd. v. Medima LLC which revived the debate regarding whether a ‘civil court has jurisdiction to grant anti-arbitration injunctions in foreign seated arbitrations?’ This decision requires a careful examination because of its impact on 1) the arbitration-friendly reputation…
Background In a recent blog post, Luis Capiel and Alicia Larrazabal of Herbert Smith Freehills commented on the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice’s decision to stay institutional arbitration proceedings initiated by Modexel Consultores e Servicios S.A. (MODEXEL) against Alimentos Polar Comercial C.A. (POLAR) under the Business Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (CEDCA) arbitration rules. In…
In Minister of Finance (Incorporated) & 1Malaysia Development Berhad v International Petroleum Investment Company & Aabar Investments PJS [2019] EWCA Civ 2080 (“IPIC”), Sir Geoffrey Vos, delivering the judgment of the England and Wales Court of Appeal, addressed the ambit of supervisory relief available before the English Courts under ss 67 and 68 of the…
