In a recent judgment, the English Court of Appeal determined that English courts do indeed have jurisdiction under s44(2)(a) of the English Arbitration Act (“the Act”) to issue an order compelling a non-party to an arbitration agreement to give evidence in support of arbitration proceedings seated both inside and outside England and Wales. In A … Read more
In the recent and unusual case of Xstrata Coal Queensland P Ltd (Company Number 098156702) (aka Rolleston Coal Holding PTY Ltd) & Anor v Benxi Iron & Steel (Group) International Economic & Trading Co Ltd [2020] EWHC 324 (Comm), the award creditors challenged an arbitral award under s68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act”). … Read more
Join us for an upcoming webinar, presented by Herbert Smith Freehills and the Asian International Arbitration Centre, titled “A Computer-Side Chit-Chat with Peter Godwin” on Monday 30 March. Peter – Asia Head of Dispute Resolution and managing partner of the firm’s Kuala Lumpur office – will share his thoughts on arbitration in Asia today, the impact of … Read more
The Hong Kong Court of First Instance has declined to prioritise an arbitration agreement where a debtor intended to dispute the existence of a debt without proving there was a bona fide dispute on substantial grounds. Dayang (HK) Marine Shipping Co., Ltd v. Asia Master Logistics Ltd [2020] HKCFI 311; HCCW 14/2019 Background The parties … Read more
The Hong Kong Court of First Instance dismissed an application to set aside an arbitral award, rejecting claims that the underlying agreement was a sham and that enforcement of the award would be contrary to the public policy of Hong Kong. The Court did not accept that the Defendant had signed the relevant agreement as … Read more
In Fimbank Plc v Discover Investment Corp [2020] EWHC 254 (Comm), available here, the English High Court discharged a freezing order obtained ex parte in support of arbitration on the basis that the claimant had no good arguable case on the merits. The Court heavily criticised the claimant’s failure to offer full and frank disclosure … Read more
In the recent case of Albion Energy Ltd v Energy Investments Global BRL [2020] EWHC 301 (Comm) (available here) the English High Court refused to stay court proceedings under section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 in a case involving competing jurisdiction and arbitration clauses. The case concerned a claim for summary judgment in the … Read more
In OCBC Wing Hang Bank Ltd v Kai Sen Shipping Co Ltd [2020] HKCFI 375, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance (Court) dismissed a summons for a stay of proceedings in favour of arbitration due to the impermissibility of incorporating arbitration agreements from a charterparty. The Court declined to stay its proceedings despite the … Read more
A consultation draft of the highly anticipated ICCA-IBA Joint Task Force’s Roadmap to Data Protection in International Arbitration has now been released for public comment. The public consultation period runs until 31 March 2020. The Roadmap and its Annexes have been developed by the Task Force (of which Charlie Morgan of HSF is a member) … Read more
