A primer on pathological arbitration clauses in Swiss law
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 case arose out of a contract between a football club and an agent relating to the transfer of a player. The contract contained a dispute resolution clause which provided that “[t]he competent instance in case of a dispute concerning this Agreement is the FIFA Commission, or the UEFA Commission, which will have to decide the dispute that cou [...]
The Unavoidability of Uncertainty: One Lesson from the Recent U.S. Court Ruling in Argentina v. BG Group
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. Some commentators urge a return to greater use of ad hoc UNCITRAL arbitration, or arbitration before institutions other than ICSID, to avoid the perceived vagaries of the ICSID annulment process. Yet commentators often forget that these alternatives carry their own risks of uncertainty, inherent in the national court review process tha [...]
Recent Swedish Ruling on Arbitrability
- By Ola Nilsson, White & Case LLP,
for White & Case
On 7 October 2011 the Svea Court of Appeal ruled on whether an arbitral award should be declared invalid or annulled because the dispute – as alleged by the plaintiff – was not arbitrable under the Swedish Arbitration Act.1 In finding that the dispute was arbitrable, the Svea Court considered several interesting issues analyzed below.
The background is as follows:
To build a golf course in Moscow, a Russian company (the “Russian Borrower”) had borrowed 22 million Swedish Crowns from a Swedish bank (the “Swedish Bank”) under a loan agreement entered into on 24 January 1990 (the “Loan Agreement”). The Loan Agreement included an arbitration clause providing for arbitration und [...]
Out to Sea in the Ninth Circuit: Bungling Questions of Arbitrability
Some of the readers of this blog may have missed the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Cape Flattery Ltd. v. Titan Maritime LLC, 647 F.3d 914 (9th Cir. 2011)—in which the court addressed the critical question of how a court is to determine whether a dispute is “arbitrable” for purposes of a motion to compel—and then proceeds to make a complete hash of it.
The M/V Cape Flattery had run aground on a submerged coral reef off Hawaii; the vessel entered into a salvage agreement with Titan Maritime that contained an arbitration clause: “Any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be settled by arbitration in London . . . in accordance with the English Arbitration Act 1996 . . ., Engli [...]
Jivraj v Hashwani: A Pro-Choice, Corrective Ruling from the Supreme Court
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), in particular its observations on the “genuine occupational requirement” (GOR) issue (discussed below) which robustly support the broad autonomy of the parties inherent in consensual arbitration to appoint decision makers with an understanding of their legal systems, social traditions and commercial background.
The dispute arose out of an arbitration clause in a joint venture agreement which provided for [...]
Who wears the crown? Immunity and the identification of the sovereign in Hong Kong
Almost every country of the world has seen an enormous increase in the involvement of the State in economic activity over the past century. This trend is particularly pronounced in those economies, China foremost among them, in which the State takes an active role in commercial life. But can State owned entities and other private law vehicles in which the State holds a stake avail themselves of the sovereign immunity which attaches to the State itself? This question understandably causes headaches to businesses transacting with such entities on a daily basis, since the answer may have a significant impact upon the evaluation of the overall business risk of entering such transactions in the f [...]
