Lisbon Court of Appeal | Annulment of an Arbitral Award | Principle of Equality | Adversarial Principle | Assessment of Evidence | Merits of the case| State Court| Case #115
Case nr. 1609/20.1YRLSB-6
19-11-2020
LINK DGSI
Headline:
Article 39(4) of the Voluntary Arbitration Law states that “The award on the merits of the dispute, or which terminates the arbitral proceedings without a decision on the merits, is only subject to appeal to the competent State court if the parties have expressly contemplated such possibility in the arbitration agreement, and provided that the dispute has not been decided ex aequo et bono or through amiable composition.”
When asked to set aside an award, the competent State court may, if it considers it appropriate and at the request of one of the parties, stay the annulment proceedings for such period of time as it shall determine, in order to give the arbitral tribunal an opportunity to resume the arbitration proceedings or to take such other action as the arbitral tribunal may consider appropriate to remove the grounds for the annulment.
A state court that sets aside the award may not hear and determine the merits of the dispute. Such matters shall, if either party so desires, be referred to another arbitral tribunal in accordance with the terms of their arbitration agreement.
Summary:
I. The arbitral tribunal must conduct the proceedings and decide in a manner which guarantees equality of the parties and the right to be heard.
II. Violation of these principles is grounds for annulment of the arbitral award if it is shown that it had a decisive influence on the determination of the dispute.
III. When the evidence to be produced depends on the will of one of the parties or third parties and they refuse to cooperate, a party, with the prior authorization of the arbitral tribunal, may request the competent state court to have the evidence produced before it, and thereafter forwarded to the arbitral tribunal.
IV. During a proceeding for the annulment of the arbitral award, the plaintiff’s disagreement as to the assessment of the evidence made by the arbitrator is irrelevant, as the state court cannot hear the merits of the award in such a proceeding.
Summary and headlines kindly prepared by Avani Agarwal (final year law student at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, India). Avani Agarwal may be contacted by email: avaniagarwal28@gmail.com