Elders International Australia Pty Ltd v Beijing Be Green Import & Export Co Ltd [2014] FCAFC 185

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Elders International Australia Pty Ltd v Beijing Be Green Import & Export Co Ltd [2014] FCAFC 185 Citation: Elders International Australia Pty Ltd v Beijing Be Green Import & Export Co Ltd [2014] FCAFC 185

Appeal from: Application for Leave to Appeal: Beijing Be Green Import & Export Co Ltd v Elders International Australia Pty Ltd [2014] FCA 1375

Parties: ELDERS INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD (ACN 007 735 168) v BEIJING BE GREEN IMPORT & EXPORT CO LTD

File number: NSD 1282 of 2014

Judges: ALLSOP CJ, RARES J & MIDDLETON J

Date of judgment: 22 December 2014

Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Application for leave to appeal a refusal to grant a stay on the enforcement of an international arbitral award – whether the primary judge should have given weight to the existence of a claim for unliquidated damages arising out of an unrelated contract between the parties – whether any injustice is suffered by the applicant in submitting to the award in circumstances where the award was obtained and entered regularly and without any opposition from the judgment debtor INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION – whether claims arising under unrelated contracts with separate arbitration clauses, but between the same parties, can be considered as related claims INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION – whether the recognition of a foreign arbitral award by an Australian Court pursuant to the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) transforms that award into an instrument with the character of a judgment of the Court – whether it is appropriate to divest a recognised foreign arbitral award of any significance associated with its international character