Commercial Dispute Resolution Briefing, April 2008

ARBITRATION

Premium Nafta Products Ltd (20th defendant) & Ors v Fili Shipping Co Ltd (14th claimant) & Ors*

The House of Lords has reaffirmed the view that arbitration agreements made in a commercial context should be liberally construed. The claimants had launched court proceedings alleging inducement by bribery to enter into charterparty agreements, whilst the defendants sought to rely on the arbitration agreement in each charterparty which provided that any dispute "arising under" the charter should be referred to arbitration. The House of Lords agreed with the findings of the Court of Appeal (under case title Fiona Trust & Ors v Privalov & Ors (January 2007)), upholding the presumption that by including such a clause the parties intended to refer all disputes arising out of the relationship to arbitration, unless expressly stated otherwise. Their Lordships also agreed