The Arbitrability of Avoidance Claims: English Commercial Court Continues Pro-Arbitration Trend

Gemma Anderson and Sampaguita Tarrant authored an article for Thomson Reuters’ Practical Law Arbitration Blog covering the English Commercial Court’s decision to grant an interim anti-suit injunction in Riverrock Securities Ltd v. International Bank of St Petersburg, which addresses issues regarding the arbitrability under English law of claims brought by liquidators pursuant to foreign insolvency laws and related public policy considerations.

“This judgment follows a number of recent English court decisions that seek to protect the parties’ choice to arbitrate,” the authors wrote. “It shows that where a party is in substance seeking to enforce contractual rights against another party, the courts will carefully scrutinize any claim that a dispute raises issues which are non-arbitrable. In the absence of express language, avoidance claims under foreign insolvency legislation will not automatically fall outside the scope of an arbitration agreement. Instead, the court will evaluate the nature of the claims and consider public policy issues in determining whether the arbitration agreement applies and, if so, whether to uphold it.”

Read the full article.