The Commercial Court has handed down judgment in proceedings relating to a US$1.6 million commodities arbitration relating to supply of blast-furnace grade coking coal.  Paul Henton acted for the successful buyers in the arbitration and the Commercial Court proceedings, in which the Court dismissed applications by the Sellers for (i) an extension of time to challenge the Award under s. 80(5) of the Arbitration Act 1996, (ii) a challenge to the Award on grounds of serious irregularity under s. 68 of the 1996 Act, and (iii) an application for leave to appeal the Award under s. 69 of the 1996 Act.

The Judgment is noteworthy in that it confirms the continued applicability to post-1996 Act cases of Hobhouse J’s guidance in the Faith [1993] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 408 in cases where the statutory time-limit for appealing or challenging an Award is missed due to delays in collecting/paying for the Award.  In obiter remarks, the Judge queried whether the approach ought not to be even stricter post- Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2014] 1 W.L.R. 795 and Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] 1 W.L.R. 3926.  The indications are therefore that the Courts will continue to take a strict approach against allowing time extensions where the necessity for an extension is due to the would-be appellant’s failure to pay for the Award in time.

The Judgment was reported on Lawtel on 9 May 2016 and on Lloyd’s Reporter on 25 April 2016.  A free copy of the Judgment is available below.