All dressed up but nowhere to go: Recognition but no enforcement of ICSID awards

Jun 28, 2022 | Arbitration, Enforcement of award, International Disputes, NZIAC

By Dr Anna Kirk and Belinda Green Foreign arbitral awards can be recognised and enforced in other countries by virtue of the provisions of the New York Convention. This is typically a quick and easy process. But two recent cases have been anything but. Why? Because...

Wilful Breaches of Contract – Do Exclusion Clauses and Liability Caps Still Work?

Jan 28, 2022 | Arbitration, International Disputes, NZIAC, Private dispute resolution

Can deliberate or wilful contract breaches still benefit from clauses that limit or exclude liability? The English High Court recently considered this issue in Mott Macdonald Ltd v Trant Engineering Ltd,[1] which confirmed that clauses limiting or excluding liability...

Enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in Australia – lessons from the Hub Street appeal

Dec 23, 2021 | Arbitration, International Disputes, NZIAC, Private dispute resolution

The decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia in Hub Street Equipment Pty Ltd v Energy City Qatar Holding Company[1] provides valuable guidance on the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in Australia, including on the nature of the discretion...

Court continues to follow modern “one stop” adjudication approach and finds arbitration clause that says “may” arbitrate means the parties “must” do so

Dec 23, 2021 | NZIAC

Where an arbitration clause is included in a contract, the courts will not interpret it as giving the parties a choice between arbitration and litigation unless very clear language is used to indicate that is the parties’ intention.   Background Kenli brought...

Related parties involved in fraud and bribery are taught an elementary lesson: an arbitration award only binds the parties to it

Dec 23, 2021 | Alternative Dispute Resolution, Arbitration, International Disputes, NZIAC

In a recent judgment of the English Court of Appeal, Vale v Steinmetz [2021] EWCA Civ 1087, the Court has affirmed the “clear and considered statement of principle” that, save for limited purposes, an award between A and B has no binding effect in proceedings between...

Court sees through layers of lipstick and linguistic camouflage in audacious application to set aside arbitral award

Sep 4, 2021 | NZIAC

By Maria Cole.   Unfortunately, too many unsuccessful arbitration participants still see it as worth their while to ‘roll the dice’ by manufacturing a pathway to a court, where strained procedural unfairness arguments rise to the fore as something...