This case note describes the decisions of the Paris Court of Appeal and the French Court of Cassation in the matter of Tomskneft v. Société Yukos Capital. As explained below, the Court of Cassation overturned the appellate court decision, which had denied the enforcement of an arbitral award on due process grounds. This case note then discusses an arbitral tribunal’s duty to notify the parties under French law and the ICC Rules and provides a brief overview of cases from other jurisdictions addressing this same issue.

 

 

In a decision dated November 5, 2014, the French Court of Cassation overturned the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal dated January 15, 2013 in the matter of Tomskneft v. Société Yukos Capital.

 

In its decision dated January 15, 2013, the Paris Court of Appeal had reversed the decision of the President of the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris (Paris Court of First Instance) enforcing an arbitration award rendered in New York six years earlier. The Court of Appeal had found that the arbitration proceedings had not complied with due process and, in particular, with the adversarial principle or “principe de la contradiction.” That decision had raised the question, first, of what a respondent, which was purportedly not properly notified during the arbitration proceedings, must demonstrate in order to contest successfully the enforcement of the ensuing award. Second, it had raised the question of what the claimant in such cases must demonstrate in order to rebut the respondent’s allegation that it was not properly notified during the proceedings and accordingly to secure the enforcement of the award rendered in the claimant’s favor.