CLOUTindex.
index.
Case 387: MAL 8
Canada: Ontario Court of Justice (Jarvis J.)
February 20, 1996.
Duferco International Investment Holding (Guernsey) Ltd. v. Pan Financial Insurance Co.
Original in English
Published in English: (1996), 7 W.D.C.P. (2d) 135, [1996] O.J. No. 549
Duferco brought an action for damages arising from the seizure of oil drilling equipment by Iranian authorities. This equipment was covered under a policy of insurance issued by the insurers. The policy contained exclusions which might apply to the losses in question. The policy provided that disputes shall be submitted to arbitration at the London Court of International Arbitration and that any questions of the contract shall be governed by the laws of England.
Duferco relied on an interpretation of the arbitration clause that would permit it to sue in Ontario "in the event of the failure of the underwriter herein to pay any amount". Duferco argued that the payment not having been made under the policy that an action in Ontario is appropriate. Duferco submitted that the contract was ambiguous on this point and ought to be interpreted in its favour.
The Court rejected this argument, citing the general policy of Ontario law to foster arbitration and the contract itself. It found that the meaning that Duferco sought to give to the arbitration clause was incompatible with the clear intent of this policy and was inconsistent with the context within which it appeared. It therefore refused to invoke the rule of contra preferentem and referred the parties to arbitration.
UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW
CASE LAW ON UNCITRAL TEXTS (CLOUT)
Abstracts of cases
This compilation of abstracts forms part of the system for collecting and disseminating information on court decisions and arbitral awards relating to Conventions and Model Laws that have emanated from the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Information about the features of that system and about its use is provided in the User Guide (A/CN.9/SER.C/GUIDE/1).
The abstracts have been prepared by national correspondents designated by their Governments. It should be noted that neither the national correspondents nor anyone else directly or indirectly involved in the operation of the system assumes any responsibility for any error or omission or other deficiency.
__________
Copyright © United Nations 2001
All rights reserved.
Reproduced on this web site (www.interarb.com) with the kind permission of the United Nations, New York.
Database, typography, layout, etc. © interarb, 2003.