This event will take place as part of the New York Arbitration Week, which takes place in New York from 18-22 November 2024.
Everyone seems to like sandwiches but hardly anyone likes to be sandwiched in a dispute. Still, there are many situations in which being sandwiched is the ill fate of a contractual party.
Think of a contractor who faces claims from the owner and at the same time has own claims against its subcontractor relating to the same works. This contractor will be involved in two separate arbitration proceedings with the inherent risk of losing both. The owner may establish claims against the contractor in the first arbitration for defective works but the arbitrators in the second arbitration may not consider the works done by the subcontractor as defective. Effectively, the contractor is sandwiched.
In litigation, a third-party notice could help to bind the subcontractor to the outcome of the dispute between the owner and the contractor without making the subcon-tractor a party to these proceedings. In arbitration, things are not that straightforward and parties seeking to mirror the litigation rules in their arbitration agreement face an uphill battle. Owner, contractor and subcontractor often do not sit at the same negotiation table. Spending time on drafting a complex arbitration agreement may likewise not be such a brilliant idea when other commercial issues are more pressing. To help parties in such a situation, the DIS has conceived a set of new rules, the DIS Supplementary Rules for Third-Party Notices, which entered into force on 15 March 2024 (the “DIS Supplementary Rules”).
More information follow soon.
Your DIS Team