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Francis Hornyold-Strickland acted as sole counsel in a SIAC arbitration between Dubai-based and Russian commodities traders for the sale and purchase of 66,000 metric tons of Russian sanctioned gasoline. Acting for the Claimant against Jan Heuvels (former global partner of Ince & Co), Francis successfully argued that the Respondent had repudiated the second of two interconnected sale and purchase deals. This left his client with no option but to source more expensive, non-sanctioned, alternative gasoline on the spot market, the difference in price between which the Claimant was entitled to recover. The case involved complex issues including, among other things: (a) jurisdictional challenges; (b) the scope of two arbitration agreements and whether cancellation costs under a charterparty entered for the purpose of carrying the cargoes of gasoline could be brought in the SIAC arbitration pursuant to the guidance in Fiona Trust v Privalov, or whether they had to be brought in LMAA arbitration in London; (c) whether Russian sanctioned gasoline was the same “product” as non-sanctioned gasoline for the purposes of measure of damages and mitigation; and (d) how to assess the question of whether there was an “available market” in the context of an extended FOB, rather than classic/straight FOB, contract.
The award underscores both Monckton Chambers’ and Francis’ strengths in international commercial arbitration, and their increasing involvement in the Middle-Eastern legal market, particularly the UAE. Francis was instructed by Mark Lakin, Paul Katsouris, and Mayss Akasheh of Stephenson Harwood, Dubai.