The recent case of Payward Inc v Chechetkin [2023] EWHC 1780 (Comm) represents a rare example of English courts refusing to enforce an arbitral award on public policy grounds. The award in question was rendered against Mr Chechetkin, a UK-domiciled lawyer who suffered significant losses trading on the Claimant’s cryptocurrency platform. The English Commercial Court…
Around the world, there are divergent approaches towards the enforceability of arbitration agreements in consumer contracts. Vietnamese laws protect consumers, who are buyers or users of goods or services for consumption or daily activities, against mandatory arbitration. The Council of Justices of the Supreme People’s Court (“Council”) recently adopted a court decision as a Precedent…
On 30 September 2020, the French Supreme Court rendered a decision, that, on its face, appears to overturn its fabled 1997 Jaguar (95-11.427, 95-11.428 and 95-11.429) and 2004 Rado (02-12.259) decisions, which held that the principle of competence-competence applied even in the case of consumer disputes. In PwC, to the contrary, the Supreme Court refuses…
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), known only as “RBG” in many circles, was a native of Brooklyn, New York and only the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. Her passing in September 2020, at the age of 87, left a gaping hole in the international community. She was widely…
The latest large consumer data breach, this time involving Equifax, has also shed a sharp light on an ongoing controversy about consumers’ access to justice. In taking steps to ameliorate its PR crisis, Equifax found itself right in the middle of the dispute about class actions and arbitration clauses. On September 7, Equifax revealed that…
Since the end of January 2017, a new law amending and supplementing the Code of Civil Procedure became effective (the “Law”). It also provides for amendments to the International Commercial Arbitration Act (“ICAA”) and to the Consumers Protection Act (“CPA”). Below is a summary of some of the key changes introduced by the Law. Consumer…
Background Bulgarian arbitration law has been an area of rare developments. It is incorporated in the International Commercial Arbitration Act (“ICAA”), adopted in 1988 as almost a direct translation of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in its 1985 version. The only major reform of ICAA was its extension to arbitrations between entirely…
Introduction After recent amendments to the Polish Arbitration Law (part five of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure, Official Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland, No 43, item 296, as amended, available in Polish here) (“CCP”) , which were a subject of my previous posts, the Polish legislator commenced in June 2016 the…
On 19 June 2015, the Armenian Parliament adopted a package of laws related to arbitration. This was the first arbitration reform since the adoption of the Law on Commercial Arbitration (“Law”) in December 2006. The law package came into force on 7 July 2015. One of the reasons for the reform was the need for…
