Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

LMAA arbitrations: English Commercial Court rejects apparent bias, holds no duty to disclose repeat appointments by appointing firm, and refuses retrospective validation of late service

Published on: 30 June 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

Legal News

Table of contents

What are the practical implications of this case?
What was the background?
What did the court decide?
Case details

Article summary

V & another v K—guidance on disclosure and bias in maritime arbitrations

V and another; K v V and another [2025] EWHC 1523 (Comm)

What are the practical implications of this case?

The decision confirms that, in LMAA references, an arbitrator owes no duty to disclose that the same law firm has instructed them on multiple, unrelated matters. Within the London maritime sphere, it is longstanding practice for parties and their solicitors to select the same tribunal members across a range of disputes, and to do so without issuing any disclosure about repeat appointments. That pattern is a feature of a compact, specialist marketplace, and is well known to, and accepted by, those who regularly operate within it. The judgment also conveniently identifies a series of considerations that the fair-minded observer would treat as bearing on the question of apparent bias...

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