Clifford Chance

Courts refuse enforcement of award on grounds of estoppel

23 October 2014

The enforcement of a New York Convention award may be refused by the English courts on the grounds of issue estoppel. The recent Commercial Court decision in Diag Human v Czech Republic [2014] EWHC 1639 (Comm) was the first time that the common law doctrine of issue estoppel has prevented the enforcement of an award under Section 101 of the Arbitration Act 1996. This decision considered the scope of the doctrine of issue estoppel and whether the enforcing courts must follow the decisions of previous enforcing courts.

 

A similar question had been addressed in Yukos Capital Sarl v OJSC Rosneft Oil Co [2012] EWCA Civ 855, where the Court of Appeal found that issue estoppel did not operate to prevent the enforcement of an award.

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