Annual Review 2009 - Watson, Farley & Williams

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14 DISPUTE RESOLUTION Dispute resolution A landmark judgment on ‘inherent vice’ and ‘perils of the sea’ MORE CASES... > Acted for Norwegian ship owners Parbulk AS against Kristen Marine SA in a US$200 million ship sale and purchase dispute. > Advised a large ship owner in relation to multiple commercial arbitrations in respect of the cancellation of a US$1 billion newbuilding order book. > Won a case for the Government of Pakistan in the Court of Appeal. The case has now been appealed to the Supreme Court. > Advised a Kazakh hotel development group in respect of US$100 million LCIA arbitration claim against a US property developer. > Defended an international trading group in respect of an alleged US$100 million fraud. LANDMARK DRILLING RIG CASE In a high-profile case involving the loss of part of a drilling rig close to the South African Cape coast, WFW Singapore succeeded in overturning an earlier Commercial Court decision. We acted for Global Process Systems (GPS), providers of technical and equipment services to the oil and gas industry, against their Malaysian marine insurers for the cost of replacing three legs of a jack-up drilling rig. The legs were lost at sea while the rig was being dry-towed on the back of a semi-submersible barge around the Cape of Good Hope. The original case went against GPS on the grounds that the loss of the legs was due to ‘inherent vice’, an excluded peril under the policy. But the Court of Appeal clarified the relationship between the concept of ‘inherent vice’ and that of ‘perils of the sea’ and in finding that the latter was the proximate cause of the loss, produced a landmark judgment in favour of our long-standing client. The case was valued at more than US$11 million, plus costs, a proportion of which were payable on an indemnity basis. The document-intensive case required wide-ranging knowledge of technical issues including naval architecture, structural engineering and marine insurance. WFW London was also involved, providing logistical support for the appeal. MARITIME BANKCRUPTCy SETTLEMENT In a complex case, WFW’s New york and London teams acted for Bank of Scotland following the bankruptcy of a group of borrowing companies. The companies were related to Eastwind Maritime, an operator of refrigerated ships, which had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The bank’s loan to the companies was secured by ship mortgages for existing vessels, assignments for newbuilding contracts and pledges of shares in the borrowing companies. When the latter defaulted on their payments, the bank had acted to exercise the share pledges and sold the shares on. Shortly afterwards, Eastwind had taken all the companies into bankruptcy, effectively trying to deny the bank the shares that were due to it. WFW prepared motions to dismiss the borrowing companies from the bankruptcy, so that the bank could realise its security. Following intense negotiations, we reached a settlement with the debtors’ trustee in the bank’s favour. Our timely action prevented our client from being involved in major litigation. The New york team provided maritime law, bankruptcy law and litigation services, while the London office advised on ship finance.
COLLECTIVE REDUNDANCy ADVICE WFW advised an oilfield services company on a collective redundancy consultation process for the closure of part of its business. This required heavy involvement in the whole procedure including timetabling and strategies for the consultation. We also dealt with issues relating to trial periods for the employees who relocated, as well as compromise agreements for the employees that were made redundant. EMPLOyMENT TRIBUNAL SUCCESS WFW London acted on behalf of an aerospace and defence company in a complicated employment tribunal claim. After being made redundant as a result of the economic downturn, the employee had alleged unfair dismissal. The case focused on the jurisdictional issue of whether the claim was submitted in time. We successfully represented the company at an employment tribunal and the claim was dismissed. CONTROVERSIAL MINING SALE International metals trading house MRI turned to WFW London concerning the sale of a company holding interests in Peruvian mines, for which it was one of the creditors. MRI was unhappy with the ‘prepack administration’ procedure applied to the sale, allowing the distressed company’s assets to be sold in short order. We acted to remove the existing administrators for the sale, and are now advising new administrators, Ernst & young. NATURAL RESOURCE DISPUTE RESOLUTION 15 Watson, Farley & Williams Annual Review 2009
Page 1 and 2: Annual Review 2009
Page 3 and 4: Our strategic goals To be a top-qua
Page 5 and 6: Leading finance and renewable energ
Page 7 and 8: Revenue up 25% £52m £58m £73m 20
Page 9 and 10: RIVERSIDE/KAUL The Riverside Compan
Page 11 and 12: AES SOLAR ENERGy/IKTINOS PROJECT Th
Page 13 and 14: PALM OIL PRODUCER DISPUTE Our Bangk
Page 15: KFW IPEX/STENA Shipbuilding at Wada
Page 19 and 20: AUGUST 2009 The Bangkok team is ran
Page 21 and 22: 97% of staff who participated in th
Page 23 and 24: All references to ‘Watson, Farley

Annual Review 2009 - Watson, Farley & Williams

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