Arbitration Matters

January 30, 2024January 26, 2024

Québec – No revocation of a homologated award without the prior revocation of the judgment – #812

In Investissements Immobiliers MB inc. v. SMP Direct inc., 2023 QCCS 4526, the Superior Court dismissed the application of Investissements Immobiliers MB inc (“Plaintiff”) to partially revoke a judgment homologating an arbitration award. In her decision, the Judge ruled that the Plaintiff had delayed acting without justifying the delay and that the application for revocation of the homologating judgment had no reasonable chance of success. The background is complicated. The application followed multiple proceedings between the court and the Arbitrator. The Plaintiff (Claimant in the Arbitration) applied to the court to annul the arbitration award on the basis that the Arbitrator had exceeded his jurisdiction. Then, before that application was decided, the Plaintiff returned to the Arbitrator for revocation of the award based on the fact that there was subsequent information that he had not considered that would affect the result. The Arbitrator refused to hear Plaintiff’s demand before the Court ruled on the Plaintiff’s annulment application. The Court homologated the award. Plaintiff’s application for leave to appeal was dismissed. The Arbitrator then dismissed the application for revocation. He found that the Court must revoke the homologating judgment first, which made the issues ruled in the arbitration award revocation issue because the homologating judgment give the award the force of res judicata. The Plaintiff’s later return to the court to revoke the homologating judgment was too late – five months later. The lesson? An arbitrator has no jurisdiction to revoke an award that has been homologated in a court judgment.

January 29, 2024January 26, 2024

B.C. – “Lacuna” identified in B.C.’s domestic arbitration scheme? – #811

In Bollhorn v. Lakehouse Custom Homes Ltd., 2023 BCCA 444, One justice of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia referred an application for leave to appeal from the decision of an arbitrator to a full panel of that Court. The Court identified what it termed “a gap [in the legislative scheme] that may confound the general understanding of ‘where there is a right, there is a remedy’”. That gap arises from the apparent application of the Vancouver International Arbitration Centre [“VanIAC”] expedited arbitration rules to claims under $250,000, which preclude appeals unless the parties agree otherwise.

January 18, 2024April 30, 2024

Jim Reflects (2023): Browne v Dunn is just a rule of fairness: a comment on the Vento case – #810

I’ll take Vento Motorcycles, Inc. v. United Mexican States 2023 ONSC 5964 (Vento) as my top pick for 2023. It’s a reminder that just because the strict rules of evidence may not apply in an arbitration doesn’t mean the rationale for some of those rules should be ignored. In this case, it was an alleged breach of the rule in Browne v Dunn, the very rule all Commonwealth litigators had beaten into their heads by their professors, their principals, or, for some of the less fortunate among us, a judge. At heart Browne v Dunn is about fairness, and ensuring fairness is a, perhaps the, cornerstone of arbitration.

January 17, 2024April 30, 2024

Timothy Reflects (2023): Are arbitral tribunals soft targets for bad actors? – #809

This case note reflects on emerging procedural and systemic vulnerabilities of arbitration, a timely and important topic in light of the recent decision of the High Court of England and Wales in Process & Industrial Development v Federal Republic of Nigeria, [2023] EWHC 2638 (Comm) (“P&ID v Nigeria”). In that case, Justice Robin Knowles remarked:

January 16, 2024April 30, 2024

Lindsay Reflects (2023): Enforcement of International Awards: The Procedural Fairness Exception – #808

In this commentary, I provide key takeaways for parties that seek to bring or oppose an application to enforce an international arbitration award in Canada. I focus on three decisions issued by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 2023: Costco Wholesale Corporation v TicketOps Corporation, 2023 ONSC 573 (“Costco”), Prospector PTE Ltd. v CGX Energy Inc, 2023 ONSC 4207 (“Prospector”), and Xiamen International Trade Group Co Ltd. v LinkGlobal Food inc., 2023 ONSC 6491 (“Xiamen”). What is the procedural fairness exception and how does it work?

January 15, 2024April 30, 2024

Chris Reflects (2023): Arbitrator Bias and the Unanimous Award – #807

When will a court confirm a unanimous arbitral award issued by a three-person panel where one of those arbitrators was biased? This case note reviews three cases that try to answer that question. In each, the Court applied the Model Law. In one recent casethe Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the award, finding that the bias did not cause actual prejudice. The other two cases, one from India, the other from Germany, reached the opposite conclusion, highlighting the pernicious, and often unseen, effect that bias can have on the deliberative process.

January 5, 2024April 30, 2024

Stephanie Reflects (2023): What’s the Standard? Reviews, Appeals and “Decisions of the Matter” – #806

For better or for worse, parties can challenge arbitral decisions through multiple avenues, whether through a review of a preliminary jurisdictional ruling, set-aside application, or appeal. Arbitration case law in 2023 highlighted a striking lack of consistency between the standards of review and appeal applied in each of these different avenues.

January 4, 2024April 30, 2024

Josh Reflects (2023): Multi-tier dispute resolution clauses: jurisdiction and limitations issues – #805

Canadian appellate courts have seldom made significant rulings on multi-tier dispute (sometimes called “step” or “cascading”) resolution clauses, so it is difficult to discern clear trends. A recent decision of the Hong Kong Final Court of Appeal (“HKFCA”) is of interest. It considered what forum has jurisdiction to determine whether prior steps in a multi-tier dispute resolution clause have been satisfied.

January 3, 2024April 30, 2024

Lisa Reflects (2023): Aroma – the blockbuster case of 2023? – #804

Aroma Franchise Company Inc. et al. v Aroma Espresso Bar Canada Inc., 2023 ONSC 1827 was the case I think created the biggest “buzz” in 2023, likely because it was the only Canadian case (of which I am aware) that has addressed the gnarly issue of arbitrator disclosure obligations in circumstances in which the arbitrator has taken on multiple appointments at the same time, a situation in which the IBA Guidelines on Conflict of Interest in International Arbitration provides little, well, guidance. I reported on this decision in an earlier case note: Ontario – Multiple arbitral appointments give rise to reasonable apprehension of bias – #734 – Arbitration Matters. Since then, the case has continued to generate interest and commentary, which has kept me thinking about it. The Ontario Court of Appeal heard the appeal on December 6, 2023.

January 2, 2024April 30, 2024

Jonathan Reflects (2023): Litigation Muscle Memory – #803

The festive season is a time for sharing. I’m re-gifting to Arbitration Matters readers a present I received at the end of a complex arbitration. My co-counsel in the arbitration remarked, “You know, litigation muscle memory is really strong.”