An Arbitrator’s Award on costs was altered by the Court for a variety of errors by the Arbitrator in his original Award, which were held matters of law.
Held: The court set out the principles for such applications: i) For the complaint about a costs award to arise in the form of an appeal, it must be one that can be expressed in the form of a clear question of law. ii) If the complaint is that the decision that the Arbitrator arrived at was wrong because of an error in his appreciation or understanding of the material used as the basis of the award, it may amount to a serious irregularity. But it does not give rise to a question of law. iii) The Arbitrator must not take into account matters which the law or the powers given him by the parties or the general law preclude him from acting on and, conversely, he must not fail to take account of, and give effect to matters that the law requires him to take account of. Moreover, since the tribunal must observe and give effect to the law, the overall discretionary exercise must not be perverse nor one that a reasonable arbitration tribunal properly directing itself could not have reached. iv) A question of law can arise, if it is contended that the Arbitrator misdirected himself by taking into account factors which he should not have done or by failing to take into account factors he should have done (Paragraph 40 of the Judgment).
Judges:
His Honour Judge Thornton QC
Citations:
(2001) 82 Con LR 41
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Newfield Construction Limited v Tomlinson, Tomlinson TCC 10-Nov-2004
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Arbitration, Costs
Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.221023