Delay, impossible, to win
20 February, 2023
13
Our Client intended to win our recent FOSFA arbitration case, while the Defendants chose to delay proceedings.
The Client delivered ca. 3,000 MT of sunflower oil under the Contract. Although the Buyer delayed payment, following numerous reminds it sent SWIFT notice on cost remittance. But later SWIFT turned out to be false, while the Seller received no funds. The Buyer’s representatives did not keep contact with the Seller and did not reply to its emails and phone calls.
Since all the options for amicable settlement elapsed, the Seller applied to Interlegal for representation at FOSFA arbitration.
Just after initiating arbitration proceedings the Buyer contacted via its lawyers and chose the tactics of proceedings delay, having understood that there was no chance to win.
Aimed to delay proceedings deliberately, the Buyer’s representatives stated that Arbitration Clause was invalid, so the Tribunal had no powers, as well as justified it by the fact that in-parallel criminal case consideration by the Ukrainian court and commercial dispute settlement by FOSFA arbitration is unlawful//
The Buyer insisted that the Seller had no right to receive funds via arbitration. Its lawyers requested too long term for filing the documents and used lots of concealed schemes aimed to delay proceedings. Interlegal arguments helped the Tribunal not only to recognize its jurisdiction upon the dispute but also to accelerate case consideration.
Furthermore, the Buyer contested the arbitration award and filed an appeal on its cancellation. However, our lawyer again solved the problem quickly and effectively, having proved that FOSFA Arbitrations & Appeals Committee was not empowered to change the Tribunal’s award.
Therefore, our lawyer Ganna Domuschi with partner Alexey Remeslo prevented delay once more. Now the first instance Tribunal is considering case on the merits: award will be announced soon.
