Arbitration and insolvency law in Dubai - is there a link?
Try to imagine a legal system without an effective insolvency law, as in Dubai. How would creditors recover their entitlements? Does it lead to more arbitration activity? Does it explain why the Dubai International Arbitration Centre had over 300 new cases last year and why arbitration is increasingly used?
Insolvency law - is it really necessary?
Dubai currently has no effective insolvency law. Try to imagine it: How would creditors recover their entitlements? Does it lead to more arbitration activity? Does it explain why the Dubai International Arbitration Centre received more than 300 new cases last year and why arbitration is increasingly used?
Insolvency Law—Is It Necessary?
In Sian Participation Corporation (In Liquidation) v Halimeda International Ltd [2024] UKPC 16, the Privy Council considered an appeal from the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (BVI) as to whether a company should be wound up where the debt on which the winding up application is based is subject to an arbitration agreement and is said to be disputed and/or subject to a cross-claim.
In Meadowside Building Developments Ltd (in liquidation) –v- 12-18 Hill Street Management Company Ltd [2019] EWHC 2651 (TCC), the Court found that in certain circumstances, it is possible for companies in liquidation to legitimately engage in adjudication proceedings.
Background
Historically, there has been some doubt as to whether or not an Adjudicator has jurisdiction to make a decision if the referring party was insolvent. This was due to the fundamental incompatibility between the adjudication process and the insolvency regime.
[2019] EWHC 2651 (TCC)
Written by the construction team at Freeths LLP
In But Ka Chon v Interactive Brokers LLC [2019] HKCA 873, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's decision to reject an application to set aside a statutory demand. The appellant had argued (among other things) that an arbitration clause in his agreement with the respondent required their dispute to be referred to arbitration.
- Jackson reforms will go ahead in April 2013
The new Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, has confirmed that the Jackson reforms will come into force in April 2013, scotching rumours that the legislative process would not be completed in time. He emphasised the importance of the Court of Appeal's role in implementing the reforms, maintaining consistency and minimising satellite litigation, urging the court to "speak clearly through [its] judgments in explaining how the reforms are intended to operate". He also described the issue of costs management
A late October 2010 case Straw Realisations v Shaftsbury House illustrates the courts’ approach to technical and insolvency-based challenges regarding enforcement of adjudicators’ awards. Given the current spate of contractor insolvencies and popularity of adjudication, any trust facing an adverse adjudicator's decision in favour of its contractor should not pay without due consideration.
A late-October 2010 case on adjudication illustrates the courts' approach to technical and insolvency-based challenges regarding enforcement of adjudicators' awards.
Haymills (Contractors) Ltd went into administration in August 2009 having already won one adjudication against its employer, Shaftsbury, and having just commenced another, which it subsequently also won. Given Haymills' administration, Shaftsbury refused to pay the amounts awarded in either adjudication, relying on numerous heads to resist payment: