How the English High Court approached force majeure, repudiation, damages, and vessel substitution under a GAFTA FOB contract. “A wrongful declaration of force majeure does not, by itself, remove the innocent party’s burden of proving that it could have performed the contract had there been no repudiation.” The OLAM case arose from an appeal to…
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Success in international arbitration is not the same as obtaining a favorable Award, often against an overseas counterparty. The Award needs to be paid for, otherwise the winning party does not experience the satisfaction that he is entitled to obtain and Justice is not made. In late 2020, following a dispute between a Spanish client…
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This was an interesting letter of credit dispute recently resolved by the Courts of Singapore. The Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the High Court, (Vinodh Coomaraswamy J) and ruled that the confirming bank could not rely on the sanction clause contained in the letter of credit. Sanctions have become very popular over recent…
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In this reference Arizon Abogados SLP was instructed by the Buyers before a Tribunal of arbitration in London. Following a positive Arbitration Award for the Buyers, the Sellers presented an application to the High Court under section 67(1) of the Arbitration Act 1996: (1) challenging an award dated the 27th August 2024 (“the Award”) of…
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This is a recent dispute where several interesting issues were argued before Lionel Persey KC, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, in London. These included, inter alia: the meaning of Laycan in the context of this FOB sale; the formation of the sales contract; whether the parties had agreed the negotiated long form;…
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NEWS & ARTICLES A well-known term in the shipping business and customary guest in charterparties, demurrage is understood as “a sum agreed by the charterer to be paid as liquidated damages for delay beyond a stipulated or reasonable time for loading and unloading, generally referred to as the laydays or laytime” (Scrutton on Charterparties, 24th…
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The Supreme Court in London has delivered a much expected judgment settling down a dispute on damage compensation principles, the text stands as an interesting fresh take on damages assessment in GAFTA sales contracts. This decision on an appeal and cross-appeal on the Court of Appeals jurisdiction touches on the limits and powers that said…
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Disobedience and contempt of Court The commercial Court in London has ruled a very interesting judgment arising out of a sales of goods case where the matter escalated into contempt of court charges addressing the responsibility of two company Directors. In a nutshell, ADM and Copragri (GHI), two companies trading Companies in the market of…
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Our legal team is very glad to report that our firm has represented two clients before two international arbitration references which have recently finalized; one on first tier, the other on appeal. This is not news as the members of our team have participated in a vast number of international arbitrations over the last two…
DetailsThe recent English High Court judgment in Galtrade Limited v BP Oil International Limited has brought a very interesting analysis arising out of a quality dispute regarding the delivery of an off-spec cargo of fuel oil. The goods were rejected by the Buyers on the ground that they were materially a different cargo and were…
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One of the benefits of being a regular reader of the Lloyd’s Law Reports is keeping updated with English commercial law, perhaps the most sophisticated jurisdiction for commercial disputes worldwide. The recent Supreme Court judgment of Kabaj-Ji SAL (Lebanon) vs Kout Food Group (Kuwait) is an interesting case worth commenting on this note. A dispute arose…
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The Tai Hunter is a very interesting case that examines a situation where a FOB Seller terminated the sales contract following an alleged fatal breach of the Buyer. Unfortunately for the Seller the English High Court held that he jumped the gun when he decided to hold the Buyer in repudiatory breach of the sales…
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NEWS & ARTICLES In June 2023 Arizon Abogados obtained the recognition in Spain of four London Arbitration Awards. The Awards cover different claims arising out of a charterparty where Arizon Abogados represented the shipowners in Spain against the charterers. The amounts of these claims exceeded 30 million US dollars. The applications were pursued before the…
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NEWS & ARTICLES Cruise passenger claims for injuries occurring during disembarkation at the ports of Málaga (Spain) and Havana (Cuba). Jervis Kay QC issued in 2018 two judgments arising from the claims of two passengers against TUI UK (Thomson Cruises). The first judgment (the Jennings case) deals with a claim brought by the claimant that…
DetailsNEWS & ARTICLES Sanctions The latest sanctions imposed on Russia are set out in Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1269 of 21 July 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures against Russian actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine. The following link provides access to all amendments to date to Regulation (EU) No 833/2014. These measures…
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NEWS & ARTICLES All our rights are reserved! This is an often-written sentence which sometimes may lead to confusion. In the recent judgment of Foxton J in “The C-Challenger” before the Commercial Court in London, the learned judge reviewed the position under English law where a party reserves his rights but sometimes such reservation is…
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NEWS & ARTICLES Ref: MV UGLJAN, damage to bulk cargo of soybeans; whether carriers were responsible for the damages suffered by the Argentinian soybeans arrived in Malaga caked, dark, and hardened, or whether the damages were to be attributed to the inherent vice of the goods. The Malaga Commercial Court has recently handed down a…
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NEWS & ARTICLES The Court of Appeal has reversed the judgment of the High Court in The Eternal Bliss and has considered that The Bonde was correctly decided and there is no reason to depart from it. The Court of Appeal for the reasons enumerated at the end of his judgment has held that, absent…
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NEWS & ARTICLES In FIMBank plc v KCH Shipping Co Ltd [2020] EWHC 1765 (Comm), the High Court refuses an application under section 12 of the Arbitration Act 1996 to extend the time bar for commencing arbitration seeking damages for misdelivery of cargo without presentation of bills of lading. The court provides an analysis of…
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NEWS & ARTICLES This is a time charter & guarantee dispute between three Chinese Companies that has been resolved in London. In its resolution the matter has reached the English Supreme Court which recent judgment commences in this unusual way: Allegations that a bribe was paid to procure a contract are by no means unknown…
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