Possibility of bias

ASM Shipping Ltd of India v TTMI Ltd of England QBD (Comm) 19 October

In a matter in which solicitors for one of the parties made allegations against the other party’s principal witness in respect to disclosure, the third arbitrator was a barrister who had recently been instructed by those solicitors in another matter in which similar allegations had been made against the same witness. A properly informed independent observer would conclude that there was a real possibility of bias that amounted to a species of ‘serious irregularity’ causing a substantial injustice to the applicant within s68 of the Arbitration Act 1996. Because of the appearance of bias, the barrister should not have continued to act as a third arbitrator.