Japan Legal Update | Vol. 33

Disputes

Supreme Court of Japan Overturns the Osaka High Court's Decision Setting Aside an Arbitral Award

On December 12, 2017, the Supreme Court of Japan (Third Petty Bench) overturned the Osaka High Court's original decision ("Original Decision") setting aside an arbitral award based on a procedural violation under the Arbitration Law of Japan and remanded the case back to the Osaka High Court. In the underlying arbitration, the presiding arbitrator's law firm had represented a sister company of the opposing party in a U.S. class action lawsuit, and the arbitrator failed to disclose the potential conflict ("Conflict") to the parties. (Please see the September 2016 issue of this newsletter for a summary of the Original Decision. The petitioner who requested that the arbitral award be set aside changed its attorneys after the issuance of the Original Decision.)