Arbitration Law Monthly

In Hulley Enterprises Ltd v The Russian Federation [2025] EWCA Civ 108 the Court of Appeal addressed the novel point of whether the principle of issue estoppel was available to preclude a foreign state from raising defences to the enforcement of an arbitration award dismissed by the curial courts. Where the defendant is a private person, issue estoppel is readily available, but the complicating factor where a foreign state is the defendant is that of sovereign immunity.

The Court of Appeal in UniCredit Bank GmbH v RusChemAlliance LLC [2025] EWCA Civ 99 faced the unique question of whether it should revoke an anti-suit injunction on the request of the successful party by reason of the threat of foreign judicial sanctions on that party if it failed to take all steps to do so.

Foxton J has, in Sodzawiczny v Smith and Another [2024] EWHC 231 (Comm); [2024] 1 Lloyd's Rep 466, produced a judgment which will undoubtedly prove to be the definitive statement of the circumstances in which a court will grant an anti-arbitration injunction barring a person from pursuing arbitration proceedings. The decision has arisen in the context of a long-running dispute which has been both to the courts and to arbitration on a number of occasions.

By Edward Liu (Partner), Vinca Yau and Lori Ng and Mickey Li (Senior Associates), Aaron Lai (Associate), Thomas Au (Trainee Solicitor), all members of the dispute resolution team at Haiwen & Partners LLP.