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Case 61: MAL 8
Hong Kong: High Court of Hong Kong (Kaplan J.)
21 January 1994
Zhan Jiang E & T Dev Area Service Head Co. v. An Hau Company Limited
Original in English
Unpublished
(Abstract prepared by the Secretariat)
The plaintiff sued for damages on the ground that the defendant failed to deliver a shipment of wire rods. The defendant requested a stay of the proceedings pursuant to article 8 MAL.
The plaintiff argued that there was no dispute to be referred to arbitration since the defendant in a letter addressed to the plaintiff had admitted liability and offered to compensate the plaintiff. The defendant denied that this letter could be construed as a sufficient admission of liability to justify refusing the stay and argued that it was unable to deliver the wire rods because it could not accept a condition set unilaterally by the plaintiff after the conclusion of the contract that the defendant submit a performance bond.
The court found that the letter referred to by the plaintiff did not constitute an
unequivocal admission of liability but was merely a commercial offer to settle. Even if
the letter were accepted as an admission of liability, it could clearly not be construed
as an admission of the quantum of the claim. The court held that there was a dispute in
the sense of article 8 MAL and granted the stay of the proceedings sought by the
defendant.
This case is cited in Case 63 and Case 128.
Additional Information published in later CLOUT issue (on "12 July 1995"):
Cases 39-41, 57, 60-64, 76 and 78, reported on in English: [1992] The Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Law Journal (ADRLJ) 235, [1992] ADRLJ 240, [1993] ADRLJ 100 and [1994] ADRLJ 49, 295, 307, 291, 290, 298 respectively.
Additional Information published in later CLOUT issue (on "9 February 2000"):
Abstract published in English: [1996] Model Arbitration Law Quarterly Reports, Vol. 2, issue 1, 73
Text of the court decision published in English: [1996] Model Arbitration Law Quarterly Reports, Vol. 2, issue 1, 76
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Abstracts of cases
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