LOLG Successfully Responds to Arbitration Jurisdiction Application

Matthew Gottlieb and Andrew Winton successfully responded to an application challenging an arbitrator’s jurisdiction to determine issues referred to it by LOLG’s clients.

In the arbitration, the respondents to the arbitration, engaged in the arbitral process for eighteen months before bringing a motion to challenge the arbitrator’s jurisdiction one week before the hearing was scheduled to commence. The arbitrator concluded he had jurisdiction over the relief sought. The applicants brought an application to the Superior Court to decide the matter. Justice Akbarali dismissed the application. In her reasons, Justice Akbarali agreed with LOLG’s submission that the applicants had agreed to refer to the issues to the arbitrator before they raised their objection, and she concluded that their last-minute jurisdiction challenge was strategic, not genuine.

The decision confirms that while a party who objects to an arbitrator’s jurisdiction is required to raise their objection no later than the beginning of the hearing, an objection cannot be made if the party previously agreed by their words or conduct to submit the issues to the arbitrator. Read the decision here.