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ARTICLE · 04 SEPTEMBER 2015

Not So Friendly 'Friendly Discussion'

Reed Smith (Worldwide)
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'Friendly discussion'. Two words that perhaps on first sight appear uncontroversial as to their meaning.

United KingdomCorporate/Commercial Law
Gautam Bhattacharyya
Gautam Bhattacharyya
Simon Greer
Simon Greer
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'Friendly discussion'. Two words that perhaps on first sight appear uncontroversial as to their meaning. However, when put into the dispute resolution clause of a contract, these two seemingly simple words can create issues from a contractual certainty perspective.

Two recent cases heard in the English Commercial Court dealt with this issue (Emirates Trading Agency LLC v Prime Mineral Exports Private Ltd [2014] EWHC 2104 (Comm) ("PMEPL case") and Emirates Trading Agency LLC v Sociedade De Fomento Industrial Private Ltd [2015] EWHC 1452 (Comm) ("SFI case")). Gautam Bhattacharyya (Partner) and Simon Greer (Associate) acted for Sociedade de Fomento Industrial Private Ltd in the SFI case.

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