UK High Court Affirms Arbitral Ruling that Party Can Recover Litigation Finance Costs

The High Court decided an appeal brought by Essar Oilfield Services, which challenged an award granted in an ICC arbitration to Norscot Rig Management, in which the arbitrator directed Essar to pay not only Norscot’s damages and attorneys’ fees, but also Norscot’s costs of litigation financing. In the dispute between the two oil and gas companies, Norscot used financing to pay for its £647,000 in attorneys’ fees, and, as a result of the successful arbitration, Norscot was obligated to the funder for the greater of three-times that amount or 35% of the damages award. (The amount of the damage award has not been reported.) Essar challenged the arbitrator’s authority to award the litigation finance costs in the High Court.