Case Alert: An Arbitrator's Powers to Issue a Corrected Award

On January 25, 2010, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia (Canada) released its decision in Westnav Container Services Ltd. V. Freeport on the jurisdiction of an arbitrator to issue a corrected award. In that case, the arbitrator issued an award and then a corrected award offering clarification in relation to a reference in his original reasoning. The Court set the arbitral award aside on the basis that the arbitrator exceeded his powers in issuing a correction ruling that appeared to offer “an alternate explanation for the result rather than clarification of the original reasoning”. The Court acknowledged that section 27 of the British Columbia Commercial Arbitration Act allows an arbitrator to correct a clerical or accidental error in an arbitral award. The Court also acknowledged that an arbitrator may issue a post-award alteration to provide parties with “more precise expression of the thought”. However, the Court held that an arbitrator does not have powers to issue an alteration that appears to change either the arbitrator’s thought process or the basis of the award.

For a copy of this decision, please follow the link here: http://www.canlii.com/en/bc/bcca/doc/2010/2010bcca33/2010bcca33.html