AD Article
The civil liability regime of arbitrators and arbitration institutions
Settlement of disputes by arbitration sometimes gives rise to subsequent litigation, after the award has been issued. Aside from proceedings to set aside arbitral awards, parties may indeed also seek to have the arbitrator and/or the arbitration institution found liable in connection with the arbitration process.
The civil liability regime of arbitrators and arbitration institutions has been regulated by the institutions themselves; the protection granted to arbitrators and internal bodies of arbitral institutions has been further strengthened in the latest version of their arbitration rules, as is the case for the International Chamber of Commerce ("ICC") and the London Court of International Arbitration ("LCIA").
This regime has also been recently clarified by French case law.
From a practical point of view, several lessons can be drawn from these decisions, which invite in particular the stakeholders (parties, counsel, arbitrators and institutions) to anticipate this issue too when defining the framework of the arbitration to be carried out.