Cour de cassation, First Civil Chamber, 8 July 2009, SOERNI v ASB - French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2009
About the Editors:
Philippe Pinsolle is a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Paris, and specializes in international arbitration. He has been involved, as counsel or arbitrator, in more than a 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 defense industry. He 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 co-founder of the Young Arbitration Practitioners (YAP). He is the author of numerous articles and case-notes on international arbitration. He holds a J.D. degree from the university of Paris II, a M.Jur. from Oxford University, Hertford College, and an MBA degree from Essec.
Thomas Clay is the Dean of the Versailles Law School and Director of its LLM in International Arbitration in collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the only French-language program in international arbitration. A 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. 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 in French, Spanish, English and Italian, collaborating with the ICC, other French institutions, the Milan Arbitration Court, and in Africa and South America. He is also member of the Jurisdiction of Professional Soccer League and Arbitrator in the French Sport Arbitration Chamber.
Thomas Voisin is an Associate in Shearman & Sterling's International Arbitration group. He has advised on numerous commercial and investor-State arbitrations. He is a member of the Paris Bar. He graduated from the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) and holds an M.Jur. from Oxford University.
Originally from French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2009
The COUR DE CASSATION, FIRST CIVIL CHAMBER rendered the following decision:
Whereas Société d’etudes et representations navales et industrielles (Soerni) tasked the Swiss company Air Sea Broker Ltd (ASB) with the transport of a boat from Libreville to Pointe Noire; that they signed a liability release letter which referred, in the event of a dispute, to the arbitration rules set forth in clause 16 – Arbitration – of the CLS Bill of Lading; that, as the boat sank, arbitration proceedings were initiated and, as the arbitration agreement of the CLS bill of lading was held to be applicable, Soerni was ordered to pay ASB compensation in an award rendered in London on 27 February 2006; that, after a civil complaint was filed for the use of false documents, on 20 December 2006 Soerni appealed the order granting enforcement of the award in France; that it requested that the Court of Appeal to stay the proceedings pending the outcome of the decision in the criminal court;