Court of Appeal

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By Robert Price and Eleanor Scogings

Two recent English court decisions provide useful reminders that parties to arbitration agreements must take care to properly serve arbitration proceedings on the other party. In doing so, parties will avoid the risk of the court setting aside an award on the grounds that service was defective and that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction.

In Sino Channel, the Court of Appeal confirmed that only in rare cases will an agent have anything other than express actual authority to accept service of a notice of arbitration.[1] However, in the unusual circumstances in Sino Channel, the Court of Appeal held that the agent had both implied actual and ostensible authority to accept service. In Glencore Agriculture, the High Court confirmed that a notice of arbitration sent by email to a junior employee is unlikely to amount to effective service, unless the nature of that individual’s role implies that they possessed authority to accept service on their employer’s behalf.

By Oliver Browne and Daniel Harrison

The Brussels Regulation provides for an exception to the general rule that a claimant must sue a defendant in the EU Member State where the defendant is domiciled. The exception allows a claimant to sue a defendant where a co-defendant (the “anchor” defendant) is domiciled instead, if the claims are so closely connected that it is expedient for a court to hear them together. In Sabbagh v Khoury and others, a majority of the Court of Appeal (the Court) considered that this exception will not apply if the claim against the anchor defendant is hopeless or presents no serious issue to be tried.[i]

Sabbagh v Khoury and others: the Case and Judgment

Article 6(1) of the Brussels I Regulation (44/2001) provides that a person domiciled in an EU Member State may also be sued : “where he is one of a number of defendants, in the courts for the place where any one of them is domiciled, provided the claims are so closely connected that it is expedient to hear and determine them together to avoid the risk of irreconcilable judgments resulting from separate proceedings.” Article 8(1) of the Brussels I (Recast) Regulation (1215/2012), which replaced the Brussels I Regulation and post-dated the claim in Sabbagh, now contains the same provision.

By Jonathan Hew

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the UK and the final resting place for civil and criminal appeals. Lord Neuberger, the President of the UK Supreme Court, has set out his views on the role and function of the court that may prove useful guidance if you are considering an appeal.

On 4 December 2015, Lord Neuberger made a speech at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies Conference 2015 entitled “UK Supreme Court decisions on private and commercial law: The role of public policy and public interest”.