| Archives: December 2009

Award N° 1168 – Damages to bulk cargo – COA and Gencon c/p – Arbitration clause in a chain of contracts. The consignee, plaintiff, having withdrawn its claim against the owner named in the Gencon c/p, seeks to held liable the operator, voyage charterer named in the same c/p and contracting party with an industrial group on a COA providing for arbitration before the CAMP in Paris, when the enacting Gencon c/p provides for arbitration before the LMAA in London. The jurisprudence of the French Supreme court (Cour de cassation) allows the arbitration clause to be extended to another contract in a chain of contracts and therefore the jurisdiction of the CAMP is accepted, thus the claim between the consignee and the operator can be processed. In the end, the claim of the consignee failed because the operator was not the carrier (bill of lading with no headings).