In a long-awaited decision, the Supreme Court has recently
handed down a judgment of critical importance addressing an
arbitrator's duty of impartiality and obligation to make
disclosure.
The case relates to the Deepwater Horizon incident and claims
made by two insureds, Halliburton and Transocean, on their Bermuda
Form policies with Chubb. An experienced commercial arbitrator,
Kenneth Rokison QC, was appointed as third arbitrator by the
Commercial Court in an arbitration commenced by Halliburton under
its policy, seeking payment of its claim. Mr. Rokison subsequently
accepted an appointment as arbitrator in an arbitration commenced
by Transocean under its policy. Although he informed Transocean of
the Halliburton appointment prior to acceptance, on accepting the
appointment in the Transocean arbitration, Mr. Rokison did not
disclose his appointment to Halliburton. When Halliburton
discovered the Transocean appointment, it applied to the Court to
seek to remove Mr.
