Date of Case: 24 June 2021
Case Reference: [2021] EWHC 1889 (Fam)

Following arbitration, the wife (represented by Joe Rainer) issued a notice to show cause application, and the husband (via multiple procedural routes, including applying under ss.68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996) sought to challenge the arbitral award. The procedural quagmire which led to the hearing before Mostyn J prompted him to issue essential guidance, set out in an Appendix to his judgment, on the correct procedure for a party to follow in these circumstances.

In summary, Mostyn J considered any challenge to the substance of an arbitral award should be dealt with in the same way, applying the same principles, as an appeal from a District Judge to a Circuit Judge. In applying those principles Mostyn J dismissed the husband’s challenges to the award. He considered that the permission to appeal stage should be dealt with as a “triage” exercise on paper, set out the necessary procedural steps to be taken in making the application and included a pro-forma gatekeeping order for use in such an application.

Bailii report: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2021/1889.html
Judgment in Family Law Week: https://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed222021