Law digests: 17 June 2022

Arbitration

National Investment Bank Ltd v Eland International (Thailand) Co. Ltd and another [2022] EWHC 1168 (Comm), [2022] All ER (D) 53 (May)

The Commercial Court allowed the claimant bank’s application for relief under s 72(1) of the Arbitration Act 1996 in circumstances where: (i) the first defendant, a Thai company in the same corporate group as the Ghanaian second defendant company, had commenced proceedings, in the Accra Court in Ghana (the Accra Proceedings), relating to a collateral management agreement which contained a permissive arbitration agreement; (ii) the claimant served a third party notice on the second defendant, making it a party to a counterclaim in the Accra Proceedings; (iii) the second defendant successfully applied to stay the Accra Proceedings in favour of arbitration; and (iv) the Commercial Court allowed the defendants’ application to appoint an arbitrator under s 18 of the 1996 Act. The court held, among other things, that both defendants had waived their right to arbitrate the disputes raised in the Accra Proceedings given that, as in The Mihalios Xilas