The so-called Jnah v. Marriott saga belongs to the category of cases that are seemingly never-ending. It is telling that the contracts which gave rise to the various disputes between the Lebanese company Jnah Development SAL (“Jnah”) and the US company Marriott International Hotels Inc. (“Marriott”) were concluded in 1994. On 18 March 2015, the…
The Dubai Court of Cassation stays firmly on course in its enforcement of foreign arbitration awards under the 1958 New York Convention for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards (NYC) and hence keeps consolidating its pro-NYC enforcement practice. This has most recently been demonstrated by the Court’s pro-Convention approach in Case No. 434/2014…
Last week, two decisions by emergency arbitrators were made public which had been rendered in separate cases based on investment treaties. Both cases were arbitrated pursuant to the SCC Rules and initiated in 2014 and 2015 respectively; together they likely constitute the first known examples of emergency arbitrators in non-contractual disputes. This blog post will…
In a recent decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit considered Pemex’s allegations insufficient to sustain RICO jurisdiction in the Conproca vs. Pemex case. This prompts out a number of interrogations: Was the bar set too high for Pemex to sustain RICO Jurisdiction? Was the underlying reason of the Court’s decision…
and Irina Tymczyszyn, Bryan Cave LLP An M&A dispute between Travis Coal Restructured Holdings LLC (“Travis”) and Essar Global Fund Limited (“EGFL”) and related parallel proceedings in England and New York have shone the spotlight back on the issue of summary judgment in international arbitration. The United States District Court for the Southern District of…
The worldwide launch of the Guide for In-House Counsel and Other Party Representatives on Effective Management of Arbitration Guide took place on 6 June 2014 in Paris. The Guide provides a checklist for the procedural decisions that need to be made at each principal phase of an arbitration. Useful in both large and small cases,…
and Li Meng, AnJie Law Firm Whether foreign arbitration institutions could conduct arbitration in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) is a question that many industry insiders are curious about. Back in 2006, when the Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court (“Wuxi Court”) refused to recognize and enforce an arbitral award issued by the ICC Court of…
By Michael Polkinghorne & Charles B. Rosenberg, White & Case LLP The role of the tribunal secretary in international arbitration has been called an “enormously grey area” that has been subject to instances of “abuse.” With concerns of the secretary going beyond his or her position as an assistant to the tribunal and becoming a…
By Karen Mills, Mirèze Philippe and Ileana M. Smeureanu The views expressed are those of the authors alone and should not be regarded as representative of or binding upon the institution or the law firms they belong to. In the last twenty years there has been a proliferation of books, publications and articles about arbitration….
A recent ruling of the Dubai Court of Appeal (see Case No. 1/2013 – Commercial Appeal, ruling of the Dubai Court of Appeal of 9 July 2013) gives new hope that despite the Dubai Court of Cassation’s disappointing approach in Case No. 156/2013 (see my blog of 21st October 2013), the UAE courts are, in…
In a blog earlier this year (see my blog of 12 March 2013), I expressed concerns about a Dubai Court of First Instance ruling (see Case No. 489/2012, ruling of the Dubai Court of First Instance of 18 December 2012) that in complete disregard of the prevailing provisions of the New York Convention (see Convention…
The ICC Institute of World Business Law has launched the 2013 edition of the Institute Prize for dissertations and essays on international commercial law, including arbitration, for anyone under the age of 40. The Prize of 10,000 Euro is awarded by a jury consisting of members of the ICC Institute Council. Essays and doctoral dissertations…
In the case of HKL Group Co Ltd v Rizq International Holdings Pte Ltd the Singapore High Court (the “High Court”) has considered whether an arbitration clause in a contract which provided for disputes to be settled by arbitration in Singapore by a non-existent institution under the rules of the ICC was inoperable. The High…
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…
There are many clients who are often engaged in industrious works that result in disputes. Typically, the applicable arbitral agreements requirement submitting claims to international arbitration and, in this author’s opinion, appropriately so. However, these same clients may also be subject to frequent claim assertions that lack any true merit. Despite this, there is not…
Last Monday I was honored with the opportunity to serve as one of the speakers for the annual ICC New York Conference. With an overflowing turnout and impressive list of panelists, it was a successful event. One interesting event of note was that the ICC took this opportunity to release the ICC Commission Report on…
Monday’s New York conference on “Arbitration with States and State Entities under the ICC Rules” got me thinking about the possibility of amicus submissions in investment cases before the ICC or other institutions beyond ICSID. A few musings: Are amicus debates likely to arise in the ICC context? The answer is yes. Although most ICC…
On September 10, 2012, The International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) in New York will be hosting the seventh annual conference. Located in New York City, the ICC Conference will be looking at investor-state arbitration, specifically under the rules of the ICC. The ICC has been working hard to build up its profile in the international…
In a decision rendered on 2 November 2011, the Reims Court of Appeal annulled an ICC Award for failure to disclose conflict of interest during proceedings, irrespective of the ICC Rules on challenging arbitrators in the case Avax v. Technimont.1)CA Reims, 2 Novembre 2011, n°. 10/02888 This post considers the latest instalment, the Reims Court…
In an emergency, swift and effective action is required. Yet in international arbitration proceedings, it can take weeks or months to constitute an arbitral tribunal. What options, then, are open to a party in need of urgent interim relief before an arbitral tribunal has been formed? In many circumstances, applying to the national courts of…
Amendment to the International Chamber of Commerce Rules of International Arbitration The International Chamber of Commerce has issued a revised set of rules for International Arbitration, due to come into force from 1 January 2012 (the “2012 Rules”). The 2012 Rules are clearly an attempt by the ICC to respond to the business needs of…
In this post, we will first deal briefly with the facts in the case of Jivraj v Hashwani and the findings of the first instance judge and the Court of Appeal, which by now would be very familiar to anyone reading this blog. We will then look at the Supreme Court’s judgment ([2011] UKSC 40),…
As discussed by Paul Friedlandhere, on September 12, 2011, the International Chamber of Commerce issued its revisedRules of Arbitration. The new rules, which update the 1998 Rules and will take effect on January 1, 2012, are the result of a two-year effort by a special task force that gathered input and consolidated best practices from…
One of the key issues that now awaits the decision of the U.K. Supreme Court in Jivraj v. Hashwani is whether there is a contract between the parties and the arbitrators, such that the arbitrators may be considered “employees” of the parties (and thereby subject to the law prohibiting discrimination by employers)? If there is…
