Arbitration Agreements

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Consumer contracts, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Discovery, Dispute Resolution, Dispute resolution clause, Efficiency, International arbitration, Mediation, Pre-arbitration Dispute Settlement Procedures, Uncategorized

(Pepperdine University School of Law)/ /1 Comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

A new study of dispute resolution practices in Fortune 1,000 corporations shows that many large companies are using binding arbitration less often and relying more on mediated negotiation and other approaches aimed at resolving disputes informally, quickly and inexpensively. The 2011 survey of corporate counsel developed by researchers at Cornell University’s Scheinman Institute on Conflict…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Proceedings, Middle East, New York Convention, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

Those who feared that following Sir David Steel J’s ruling in Injazat Capital Limited and Injazat Technology Fund B.S.C. v. Denton Wilde Sapte & Co before the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of First Instance (ruling of 6 March 2012 in Claim No. CFI 019/2010, for previous reporting see here), the DIFC Courts and…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Asia-Pacific, Enforcement, Hong Kong, ICC Arbitration, Joinder, Set aside an arbitral award, Singapore International Arbitration Centre

(Norton Rose LLP)/ /Leave a comment

by Kah Cheong Lye (Partner) and Chuan Tat Yeo (Associate), Norton Rose (Asia) LLP Like computer programs, the length of time between updates for institutional rules seems to get shorter and shorter. New editions of institutional arbitral rules were introduced by the SIAC in 2010, the ICC in 2012, and the HKIAC’s revised Administered Arbitration…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Asia-Pacific, Dispute resolution clause, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, LCIA Arbitration, Singapore International Arbitration Centre

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

In International Research Corp PLC v Lufthansa Systems Asia Pacific Pte Ltd [2012] SGHC 226 (per Chan Seng Onn J) (“International Research”), the Singapore High Court addressed the issue of whether an arbitration clause contained in one contract between two parties binds a third party who subsequently enters into a supplemental agreement with the original…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Costs, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Enforcement

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /1 Comment
WilmerHale

In its important 2011 decision AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, the United States Supreme Court sharply limited the grounds on which a court may invalidate an arbitration agreement. A recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, In re Checking Account Overdraft Litigation MDL No. 2036, illustrates how lower courts are…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Domestic Courts, Jurisdiction, Switzerland

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /1 Comment

In a recently published decision dated 6 August 2012 (4A_119/2012), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court confirmed its own jurisprudence according to which state courts facing a jurisdictional defense based on an alleged arbitration agreement must not assess in full the validity of the arbitration agreement. In such cases, the state court must limit itself to a summary examination of whether or not a valid arbitration agreement exists.

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitrators, English Law

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /2 Comments
Herbert Smith Freehills

In June 2010 the Court of Appeal’s decision in Jivraj v Hashwani caused dismay in the arbitration community. Does an arbitration agreement which provides criteria for the appointment of arbitrators risk falling foul of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (the “Regulations”) or other UK anti-discrimination law? The Supreme Court judgment of 27…

Annulment, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Seat of the arbitration, UNCITRAL Model Law

/ /1 Comment

On 6 September 2012, the Indian Supreme Court delivered its much-awaited judgment in Bharat Aluminium Co v. Kaiser Aluminium Technical Services (‘BALCO’). For the reasons discussed in detail below, the 190-page long BALCO decision is likely to go down in the annals of arbitration reports as the watershed decision that heralded a new dawn for…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Brazil, Domestic law, English Law, International arbitration, Law governing the arbitration agreement, Seat of the arbitration, UNCITRAL Model Law

(McGill University Faculty of Law)/ /2 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The English Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Sulamerica CIA Nacional De Seguros SA v Enesa Engenharia SA [2012] EWCA Civ 638, which is discussed in a recent post by Guy Pendell, underscores an important weakness in the international arbitration system’s legal framework. While everyone accepts that the arbitration agreement is the foundation of an…

Annulment, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Seat of the arbitration, UNCITRAL Model Law

(Legaleidescope)/ /3 Comments

The Supreme Court of India has finally spoken to deliver a definitive ruling on the role of Indian courts in international arbitrations seated outside India. Overruling the controversial decision of Bhatia International v Bulk Trading (2002), the Supreme Court held that Indian courts do not have supervisory authority over international arbitrations taking place outside India….

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Proceedings, Asia-Pacific

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

In Shanghai Construction (Group) General Co. Singapore Branch v Tan Poo Seng [2012] SGHCR 10, the Singapore High Court granted a temporary stay of proceedings in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction. The stay was granted on the ground that there was an arbitration which was intended to take place and the outcome of that arbitration…

Anti-suit injunction, Arbitration Agreements, Brazil, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, English Law

(CMS Cameron McKenna LLP)/ /Leave a comment
YIAG

On 16 May 2012, the Court of Appeal of England & Wales (“CA”) dismissed an appeal against an anti-suit injunction restraining three insured entities from pursuing proceedings in the Brazilian courts against their insurers (Sulamerica CIA Nacional De Seguros SA v Enesa Engenharia SA [2012] EWCA Civ 638). This is the latest in a series…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, International arbitration

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /1 Comment

On 1 June 2012, the new revised version of the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration (“Swiss Rules”) will come into force.  According to Article 1.3, the new Rules will apply to all Swiss Rules proceedings in which the Request for Arbitration is submitted after 1 June 2012, unless the Parties agree otherwise. The Swiss Rules…

Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, BIT, Confidentiality, Dispute resolution clause, Investment Arbitration

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

In a judgment dated 25 April 2012 (Lombard North Central plc and another v GATX Corporation [2012] EWHC 1067 (Comm)), Judge Andrew Smith of the English High Court (Commercial Court) underlined the potential risks that might arise from arbitration clauses which have a limited scope. Although this judgment is relevant to a number of different…

Arbitration Agreements, Enforcement

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

A party who wishes to circumvent an arbitration agreement may sometimes proceed to obtain default judgment from a friendly court and then seek to enforce that judgment, under the common law, as a debt in the courts of the country where the counterparty is located. A recent Singapore decision, Giant Light Metal Technology (Kunshan) Co…

Arbitration Agreements, Middle East

(Baker & McKenzie)/ /Leave a comment

On 6 March 2012, Justice Sir David Steel of the Court of First Instance of the Dubai International Financial Centre – DIFC – rendered a decision refusing to grant a stay of the proceedings, and ignoring an option in the underlying contract to opt out of the Court’s jurisdiction by referring to LCIA arbitration. In…

Arbitration Agreements, Canada, Jurisdiction

(Caribbean Arbitrators, Arbitration Place, 33 Bedford Row Chambers)/ /1 Comment

Canada’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada, recently considered whether a party had waived its right to rely on arbitration and forum selection clauses by submitting a statement of defence on the merits in an Ontario court litigation in which it also pleaded the clauses. The Court ruled that there had been no waiver….

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, International arbitration, Other Issues, Suggestions to improve transparency and access to usable data, Transparency in investment arbitrations

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment
White & Case

The views of lawyers involved in international commercial and investment arbitration are being sought for a new international arbitration survey from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL). Conducted by QMUL’s School of International Arbitration and sponsored by White & Case LLP, the 2012 survey aims to examine whether a “harmonised international arbitration procedure is emerging,…

Arbitration Agreements, Confidentiality, Confidentiality and Transparency

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Just a few weeks ago, an arbitral award made headlines in the German press: “Advisors in Märklin deal to pay multi-million euro fine”, “Märklin: advisors to pay damages”, “Märklin fallout: Former owner awarded $18.7 million in judgment against consultant”, to name but a few examples. According to the newspapers, the US-based consulting firm AlixPartners was…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Commercial Arbitration, Dispute resolution clause, International arbitration, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Partial award, Set aside an international arbitral award, Switzerland

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /Leave a comment

By Matthias Scherer and Sam Moss In a recent decision issued on 7 November 2011 on a request for annulment of a partial award on jurisdiction rendered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“TAS”), the Swiss Supreme Court recalled and applied its previous jurisprudence on the interpretation of pathological arbitration clauses (Case 4A_246/2011). The…

Annulment, Anti-arbitration, Appeal, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Foreign Investment Law, ICSID Convention, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, kompetenz-kompetenz, New York Convention, Pre-arbitration Dispute Settlement Procedures, Principle of finality, Set aside an international arbitral award

(Independent Arbitrator)/ /Leave a comment

It has become fashionable in recent years, each time an ICSID annulment decision is released that takes issue with the procedures or reasoning of an ICSID tribunal, for commentators to bemoan the lack of certainty, predictability and finality that this reflects in the ICSID system for adjudicating investment treaty disputes between investors and host States….

Arbitration Agreements

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /Leave a comment
WilmerHale

When the strong federal policy in favor of honoring arbitration agreements in the U.S. comes into conflict with another strong legal principle, which one should come out on top? The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently illustrated this tension in Kolev v. Euromotors West/The Auto Gallery, 658 F.3d 1024, holding that…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Class arbitration, Due process, Foreign Investment Law, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /1 Comment

With the release of the Dissenting Opinion in Abaclat v. Agentina, we now have the benefit of a forceful critique of the majority’s decision that the Abaclat Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear the claims of over 60,000 Italian investors against Argentina under the ICSID Convention and the Argentina-Italy BIT.  Professor Georges Abi-Saab’s Dissenting Opinion (the…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitral seat, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Proceedings, India, Provisional measures, Set aside an arbitral award, UNCITRAL Model Law

(Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC))/ /3 Comments

International consciousness that India is an arbitration unfriendly jurisdiction has existed for some time now. This feeling owes in part to seemingly interventionist judicial views, in part to the delays that are oft complained of about the Indian judicial system and in part to the lack of infrastructure necessary for any arbitration friendly destination. This…