Syska (acting as the administrator of Elektrim SA (in bankruptcy)) and another v Vivendi Universal SA and others [2009] EWCA Civ 677, [2009] All ER (D) 88 (Jul)
Court of Appeal, Civil Division, Mummery, Longmore and Patten LJJ 9 Jul 2009
Where an arbitration is proceeding in one member state and one of the parties to the reference becomes insolvent in another member state, the consequences of that insolvency, in so far as they affect the arbitration, are to be determined by the law of the member state in which the reference is taking place.
Gabriel Moss QC, Richard Millett QC and Julian Kenny (instructed by Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP) for the claimants. Toby Landau QC and Ricky Diwan (instructed by O’Melveny & Myers LLP) for the defendants.
The second claimant was a Polish company. In September 2001, it entered into an agreement with the defendants, which contained a London arbitration clause. The arbitration agreement was governed by English law, although the rest of the agreement was governed by Polish law. Disputes arose and in August 2003 the defendants began arbitration proceedings pursuant to the agreement. In
