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Supreme Court of Alaska holds that settlement agreement releasing parties from “any and all … obligations” under prior contract also releases parties from arbitration agreement contained in that contract

September 6, 2019 by David Zaslowsky and Kyle Olson 4 Mins Read

SMJ Gen. Constr., Inc. v. Jet Commer. Constr., LLC, 440 P.3d 210 (Alaska 2019) In May 2016, after entering into a contract for the construction of a restaurant in Hawaii, Jet Commercial Construction, LLC (“Jet”), an Oklahoma corporation, entered into a subcontract with SMJ General Construction (“SMJ”), an Alaskan corporation, to supply materials and labour for construction of the restaurant. This contract contained a broad dispute resolution clause. When disputes arose, the parties engaged in mediation…

In North America

U.S.: . Ninth Circuit holds that settlement agreement entered as an order by a purported arbitrator, without attendant arbitral proceedings, is not a foreign arbitral award under the New York Convention.

July 4, 2019 by 4 Mins Read

Castro v. TriMarine Fish Co. LLC, No. 17-35703 (9th Cir. Feb. 27, 2019) [click for opinion] Plaintiff Castro…

In North America

U.S.: District court refuses to confirm unreasoned arbitration award and remands it to the arbitrator for clarification.

July 1, 2019 by David Zaslowsky 4 Mins Read

Smarter Tools Inc. v. Chongqing SENCI Import & Export Trade Co., No. 18-cv-2714 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 26, 2019) [click…

In Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Enforcement of foreign arbitration awards by court-appointed bailiffs

June 13, 2019 by Martin Hrodek and Kristina Bartoskova 5 Mins Read

Traditionally in the Czech Republic, both national and foreign arbitration awards could have been enforced either in standard court enforcement proceedings or in proceedings administered by court-appointed bailiffs. While procedurally enforcement through a bailiff is an alternative to the enforcement through a court, the former possesses a few clear advantages. Some of the advantages include the absence of a court fee or the more pro-active role of the bailiff when it comes to investigating the…

In North America

U.S.: Appellate court vacates corrected partial final arbitration award and final arbitration award on the grounds that the panel exceeded its authority by reconsidering its initial partial arbitration award.

February 20, 2019 by Amanda Praestholm 4 Mins Read

Am. Int’l Specialty Lines Ins. Co. v. Allied Capital Corp., Index. No. 656341/16, 2018 NY Slip Op 07194…

In Argentina

Argentine Supreme Court supports restricted review of arbitral awards

December 10, 2018 by Luis Dates and Marcos Sassot 4 Mins Read

On November 6, 2018, the Argentine National Supreme Court (“Supreme Court”) ruled on a case regarding the annulment…

In Uncategorized

International Arbitration Statistics 2018 – Another busy year for Arbitral Institutions (update)

October 15, 2018 by Dr. Markus Altenkirch and Malika Boussihmad 3 Mins Read

While it hasn’t been a record year for most arbitral institutions, the demand for arbitration is still very strong. As in the previous years , we have compiled the numbers published by the arbitral institutions to date. Recently, the ICC made its 2018 statistics report available for download. We had a look at these numbers and updated this blog post. We will update this blog post again when further statistics become available (1). We also…

In North America

U.S.: District court holds that enforcement of award requiring a foreign sovereign to recognize an energy concession in its own territorial waters would violate US public policy.

October 4, 2018 by Courtney Giles and David Zaslowsky 5 Mins Read

Hardy Exploration & Prod. (India), Inc. v. Gov’t of India, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Civil Action…

In Europe

Swiss Federal Supreme Court Reaffirms CAS Panel is Independent From FIFA

August 9, 2018 by 6 Mins Read

In its decision 4A_260/2017 rendered on 20 February 2018, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court declined to set aside…

In England and Wales

Due process and fairness in arbitral proceedings: the Commercial Court rules against finding serious irregularity

July 12, 2018 by Richard Molesworth 8 Mins Read

The rejection of SCM Financial Overseas Ltd’s (“SCM”) challenge to an US$ 860 million award in favour of Raga Establishment Ltd (“Raga”) on the grounds of serious irregularity under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (“AA 1996”) reinforces the difficulty of challenging the outcome of arbitral proceedings. In the Commercial Court, Mr Justice Males has dismissed SCM’s challenge, in which SCM alleged that the arbitrators neglected their duty of fairness under section 33 AA…