DGE v DGF

Case Significance

DGE v DGF [2024] SGHC 107 was decided by the General Division of the High Court of Singapore on 25 April 2024, in Originating Application No 1165 of 2023, with Kristy Tan JC delivering the reserved judgment after hearings on 4 and 5 April 2024. The application, HC/OA 1165/2023, was brought by DGE ("E") to set aside the Partial Award on Jurisdiction and Liability dated 17 August 2023, as corrected on 2 October 2023, issued by a three-member arbitral tribunal in two consolidated arbitrations (ARB 1 and ARB 2). The arbitration was seated in Singapore and conducted under the International Arbitration Act 1994 and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (with new article 1, paragraph 4, as adopted in 2013). DGF ("F") was the claimant and E the respondent in the arbitration; F's claim was that E supplied photovoltaic modules (solar panels) with allegedly defective AAA backsheets made of three layers of polyamide. The arbitration was bifurcated into liability and remedies phases, and in the liability-phase Award the tribunal found that 365,000 AAA Modules supplied by E were inherently defective, with remedies to be determined in the final award. In the setting-aside application E advanced no fewer than eight distinct grounds. F was represented by WongPartnership LLP and E by Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, and the judgment referenced the Arbitration Act, the International Arbitration Act and the Sale of Goods Act.