French courts—distinguishing the duties and liabilities of arbitral tribunals and arbitral institutions (Kraydon Ltd v ICC)

Table of contents

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

Article summary

Arbitration analysis: In a decision of 22 March 2023, the French Cour de cassation rejected a party’s appeal seeking to hold an arbitral institution liable for alleged procedural breaches, consisting in decisions made by the arbitral tribunal. The Cour de cassation highlighted the separation between the jurisdictional function of the arbitral tribunal on the one hand, and the organisational function of the arbitral institution on the other hand. Accordingly, the court clearly affirmed that there should be no attempt at conflating liability-incurring acts by arbitrators and liability-incurring acts by arbitral institutions. Written by Flore Poloni, partner & Kimberley Bazelais, associate at Signature Litigation.