When does the issuance and the enforcement of the terms of a peremptory order in international arbitration cross the line such as to amount to a denial of justice? That was the principal issue in Sai Wan Shipping Ltd v Landmark Line Co Ltd [2022] SGHC 8 where the Singapore High Court found the arbitrator to have acted in breach of the principles of natural justice in not giving the respondent sufficient opportunity to be heard and to have failed to give equal treatment to the parties.
The arbitrator in this Singapore-seated arbitration had issued what he described as a final and peremptory order that defence submission be served by a certain time, the breach of which would bar the respondent from advancing any positive defences or evidence. When the submission were served slightly late, the arbitrator refused to admit the defence submissions and subsequently made an award in favour of the claimant without hearing witnesses and on a documents-only basis. The Court set aside this award for the reasons stated above.
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