LKK Team Succeeds Before the Swiss Supreme Court

LKK lawyers Sébastien Besson and Silja Schaffstein successfully represented the respondent, an Australian mining company, in an annulment action before the Swiss Supreme Court. The action was brought by a North African mining company against an ICC award in respect of a dispute arising out of an exploration and development project in north Africa.

In its decision 4A_40/2018, issued on 26 September 2018, the Swiss Supreme Court upheld the respondent’s argument that the applicant had failed to raise its complaints of alleged violations of the right to be heard in a timely fashion. As a result, the Supreme Court declared the action inadmissible and ordered the applicant to bear the full costs of the annulment proceedings, as well as an indemnity for LKK’s client’s legal costs.

The Supreme Court’s decision in this case is further noteworthy in that it clarified the dies a quo for challenging ICC awards in Switzerland. The decision is available here (original French version) and a short commentary of the decision (in English) is available here.