CMA CGM SA v Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co Ltd – QBD (Com Ct) (Burton J) – 14 November 2008

Arbitration – Shipbuilding contracts containing London arbitration clause – Third party seeking to take over contracts from original buyers and requesting sellers’ consent to novation – Sellers initially refusing consent – Third party bringing proceedings in France against sellers in tort for unlawful refusal to consent – All parties subsequently agreeing to novate shipbuilding contracts – French court determining that sellers’ initial refusal of consent was unreasonable – Whether French proceedings constituted a breach of London arbitration clause in shipbuilding contracts as novated – Whether London arbitration tribunal bound by French judgment

(2008) 759 LMLN 3