Jurisdiction: the effect of foreign judgments

Burton J in Exmek Pharmaceuticals SAC v Alkem Laboratories Ltd [2015] EWHC 3158 (Comm) was faced with a series of jurisdictional challenges to an arbitration award in which the arbitrator held that an arbitration agreement between the parties was valid. The most important was the existence of a judgment of the Peruvian courts holding that the right to rely upon the arbitration clause had been waived. There was a further raft of jurisdictional matters raised, including the validity of the clause, abandonment of the clause and the invalidity of the arbitrator’s appointment. As will be seen, each of the jurisdictional challenges was rejected.

Exmek : the facts