High Court Rejects Lower Courts' Reevaluation of Evidence in Arbitration

Russia's High Arbitrazh (Economic) Court overturned two lower courts' refusal to enforce a $3.9 award issued by the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Court of International Arbitration in favor of a U.K. company in a dispute over a contract to supply olein to a Russian buyer. The buyer refused to accept the olein when the seller refused to adjust the contract price to reflect a decrease in the market price on the commodities exchange. The arbitral tribunal awarded damages for the seller's loss in selling to another buyer 6,000 tons of shipped olein and for lost profits on 24,000 tons that were not shipped. The Voronezh Region arbitrazh court refused to enforce the award on the ground that it was based on falsified documents, because the resold olein amounted to only 5,961 tons, not 6,000. The court's decision was affirmed on appeal. The High Court reversed the decision, ruling that the lower court was not permitted to reevaluate the evidence considered by the arbitral tribunal and noting that the buyer had not presented evidence of falsification to the lower court and that the court had not conducted a forensic examination of the evidence.

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