20 August 2014 – Walder Wyss arbitration team members, Daniel R. Wyss and Michael Cartier, acted for claimant, i.e. the supplier, before an ad hoc (UNCITRAL) arbitral tribunal claiming payment for parts supplied for a power plant project near Damascus, Syria, and obtained a full win.

The dispute concerned the effect of the Syrian civil war on a supply contract, and whether respondent, i.e. the purchaser, could invoke force majeure to suspend its payment obligations since work on site had been interrupted.

The arbitral tribunal rejected any force majeure effect on the purchaser’s payment obligations since payment was not predicated on any work to be done on site, and awarded claimant payment in full.