Certainty with flexibility—Supreme Court decision on disclosure of overlapping arbitral appointments (Halliburton v Chubb)

Article summary

Arbitration analysis: The issue for decision by the Supreme Court was whether an arbitrator should be removed from the tribunal in a Bermuda Form arbitration, the Commercial Court and Court of Appeal having held that he should not. In particular, it considered the wider context of an arbitrator accepting appointments in multiple references concerning the same or overlapping subject matter with only one a common party. It did so by reference to: (i) the possibility of apparent bias, and (ii) the obligations and ability of such an arbitrator to make disclosure to the other party/ies. The Supreme Court held that there may be circumstances in which the acceptance of multiple appointments in such circumstances might reasonably cause the fair-minded and informed observer (FMIO) to conclude that there is a real possibility of bias, depending on the facts of the particular case and especially upon custom and practice in the relevant field of arbitration. It further held that where...