Cour de cassation, First Civil Chamber, 6 October 2010, Abela I - French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2010

Author(s):

Thomas Clay

Philippe Pinsolle

Thomas Voisin

Suhaib Al-Ali

Page Count:

4 pages

Media Description:

1 PDF Download

Published:

February, 2016

Author Detail:

About the Editors

Thomas Clay is Professor in International Arbitration Law in Versailles

University, Director of its LLM in International Arbitration in

collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the only

French-language program in international arbitration. He's also Vice-

President of the University, managing partner of Clay Arbitration Law

Firm, and former Dean of the Law School. Member of the French

Arbitration Committee and of the International Arbitration Institute and

other institutions, Professor Clay is the author of various books and articles

on arbitration, including "The Arbitrator", a treatise on the duties and

obligations of arbitrators, and "Code de" arbitrage commenté”, a

restatement of the French law. He writes a regular column, Arbitration

Law, in the weekly legal journal Dalloz. He also participates in numerous

conferences throughout the world on international arbitration and has an

extensive practice in arbitration, as arbitrator or counsel, in French,

Spanish, English and Italian, collaborating with the ICC, other French

institutions, the Milan Arbitration Court, and in Africa and South America.

Professor Clay is also a member of the Jurisdiction of Professional Soccer

League and Arbitrator in the French Sport Arbitration Chamber. He was

appointed by France to serve as co-arbitrator in the first ICSID Arbitration

against that country.

Philippe Pinsolle is the Managing Partner of the Paris Office at Quinn

Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and specializes in international arbitration.

He has been involved, as counsel or arbitrator, in more than two hundred

and fifty international arbitrations, both institutional (ICC, ICSID, LCIA,

SCC, AFA, Swiss Rules, etc.) and ad hoc, concerning such activities as

investment, oil and gas, energy, telecom or the defense industry. Mr.

Pinsolle is a member of the Paris Bar and of the Bar of England & Wales

(Gray's Inn). He is a lecturer on international arbitration at the Universities

of Aix-Marseille III, Versailles-St Quentin and Paris 12. Mr. Pinsolle is the

former President of the International Arbitration commission of the Union

Internationale des Avocats (UIA) and a cofounder of the Young

Arbitration Practitioners (YAP). He is the author of numerous articles and

case-notes on international arbitration and holds a J.D. degree from the

University Pantheon-Assas (Paris II), a M.Jur. from Oxford University,

Hertford College, and an MBA degree from Essec.

Thomas Voisin is a Partner in the Paris office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart

& Sullivan. He has represented clients in a number of international

arbitrations, both ad hoc (including under the UNCITRAL Rules) and

under the rules of major arbitration centers (ICC, ICSID, LCIA, SCC,

AFA, etc.), with particular focus on investment, energy, and commercial

disputes. His experience includes international arbitrations in the oil &

gas, power, transportation, mining, aviation and chemical sectors. He

graduated from the University Pantheon-Assas (Paris II) and holds an

M.Jur. from Oxford University.

Suhaib Al-Ali is an Associate in the Paris office of Quinn Emanuel

Urquhart & Sullivan. He has intervened on behalf of both States and

Investors before ICSID and ad hoc tribunals, as well as commercial

Claimants and Respondents before the ICC, LCIA, ECA, and the Franco-

German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has degrees from

King's College London, Paris-I Pantheon-Sorbonne, and the University of

Chicago. He is a member of the New York Bar.

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Originally From:

French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2010

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ORIGINAL

Dit n’y avoir lieu à jonction des
pourvois S 08 20.563 et H 09 10.530 ;

Sur le moyen unique, pris en ses deux branches :

Attendu que MM. E..., A... et J... X... ont signé le 1er mai 1979 un protocole prévoyant la
création d’une société holding au Liechtenstein rassemblant leurs activités dans le monde entier,
chaque partie pouvant attribuer ses parts à une fondation familiale ; que les statuts de la
holding, Albert Abela corporation (AAC), comportaient une convention d’arbitrage ; que MM. J... et
A... X... ont chacun constitué une fondation familiale, Joseph Abela Family Foundation (JAFF) et
Albert Abela Family Foundation(AAFF) et racheté les parts de leur frère E... ; qu’à la suite du
décès D’A... X..., des divergences importantes ont opposé ses fils, MM. A-M... et M... X... et leur
mère, Mme B... X... (les consorts X...) qui ont signé le 26 avril
2000 une “convention de règlement”, ratifiée également par la AAFF, soumise, en son principe, au
conseil d’administration de la AAC et à l’assemblée générale ; que l’exécution de cette
convention, notamment par les
consorts X..., a abouti à la cession des
actifs de la AAC ; que la JAFF ayant engagé une procédure d’arbitrage et une première sentence
partielle ayant statué sur la loi applicable et sur l’arbitrabilité du litige, une seconde sentence
partielle du 22 mai 2008 a dit que les consorts X... n’étaient pas liés par la convention

TRANSLATION

Decides that the actions S 08 20.563 and
H 09 10.530 will not be joined ;

On the sole argument taken in its two prongs :

Whereas Mssrs E…, A… and J… X… signed an agreement on 1 May 1979, providing for the establishment
of a holding company in Liechtenstein that would congregate their worldwide activities, each party
having the possibility to attribute its shares to a family foundation ; the statutes of the
holding company, Albert Abela corporation (AAC) included an arbitration clause ; Mssrs J… and A… X
each constituted a family foundation, the Joseph Abela Family Foundation (JAFF) and Albert Abela
Family Foundation (AAFF) and bought the shares of their brother E… ; following the death of A… X…,
major disagreements opposed his sons, Mr A- M… and M… X… and their mother, Mrs B… X… (the
litigants X…), who signed on 26 April 2000 a « settlement agreement » also ratified by the AAFF,
subjected, in its principle, to the AAC’s board of directors and general assembly; the execution of
this agreement lead to the sale of AAC’s assets ; the JAFF initiated an arbitration procedure
and a first partial award ruled on matters of applicable law and arbitrability of the dispute; a
second partial award, issued on 22 May 2008, held that the litigants X… were not bound by the
arbitration clause and thus that the Tribunal had not