Arbitrator's Independent Inquiries Amount To A Serious Irregularity – English Court Remits Award Back To Arbitrator

The English High Court has upheld a challenge to an arbitration award on the grounds of serious irregularity, in Fleetwood Wanderers Ltd (t/a Fleetwood Town Football Club) v AFC Fylde Ltd [2018] EWHC 3318 (Comm). The Court held that the sole arbitrator's conduct in making independent investigations after the substantive hearing, without notifying the parties and without giving them an opportunity to respond, breached the tribunal's general duty under s33 of the UK Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act“), and amounted to a serious irregularity under s68 of Act. The award was remitted back to the arbitrator for reconsideration.

Background

The dispute between the Claimant (“Fleetwood Town“) and the Defendant (“Flyde“), both football clubs, arose from the termination of a professional footballer's contract of employment. Flyde initially contracted Dion Charles (the “Footballer“), but failed to register his contract with the Football Association (“FA“) or the National League, as it was required to do.

During the currency of his initial contract with Flyde, the Footballer left and joined Fleetwood Town. Flyde claimed that this constituted a repudiatory breach of the Footballer's initial contract, that Fleetwood Town wrongly procured such a breach, and that it was therefore entitled to common law damages, plus damages under Article 17 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, issued by the Federation International de...