Xxxxxxx and Consolidation. (A) Each Party agrees that if the Secretary of State and the Operator agree in writing (such agreement to be signed on behalf of each of the Secretary of State and the Operator) that two or more arbitrations begun under one or more Related Contracts should be heard in a single set of proceedings before a tribunal constituting arbitrators nominated by the Secretary of State and the Operator in their written agreement (the “Nominated Tribunal”), the proceedings shall be consolidated before the Nominated Tribunal.
Xxxxxxx and Consolidation. (a) Each Party agrees that:
Xxxxxxx and Consolidation. Dealing with more than two parties under the same arbitration agreement is conceptually relatively simple, save for the arbitrator appointment process, which is dealt with in Section III.F of the Model DR Agreement. Where the interests of two or more parties are aligned, they can often be represented by the same counsel and treated as a single party for the purposes of the proceedings. Where this cannot be done, the arbitral tribunal will need to carefully manage the proceedings to accommodate the rights of each of the parties to present their cases and respond to the cases being put against them. The Model DR Agreement includes an alternative to deal with disputes between the same parties under multiple contracts using the same arbitration agreement (III.A.2), which can be a very efficient way of dealing with the same commercial relationship across multiple contracts. Most sets of Rules also allow a party, under limited circumstances, to join an additional party in an arbitration proceeding, provided the proceedings have not gone beyond a certain stage. Where the selected arbitration rules do not provide for joinder of additional parties, optional clause IV.F of the Model DR Agreement can provide for the potential joinder of an additional party. Consolidation becomes relevant where two or more separate arbitrations are anticipated in relation to claims involving similar issues of fact or law. If these claims are dealt with in different arbitration proceedings, there may be a risk of conflicting or inconsistent awards on the same issues. Such separate claims could arise under the same arbitration agreement or under separate arbitration agreements. Although some rules give the first-appointed tribunal the power to decide whether to consolidate a separate set of proceedings between the same parties into their proceedings, others provide that decisions regarding consolidation will be made by the administering institution or by a special consolidation arbitrator. Moreover, most rules require that in order for consolidation to occur, the relevant arbitrations must all be governed by the same institutional rules. Option IV.G.1 is meant to provide a tribunal a similar ability to consolidate separate arbitrations where the designated rules do not address the issue of consolidation. Option IV.G.2 envisages the appointment of an independent consolidation arbitrator to determine whether the proceedings should be consolidated to avoid the concern about the tribunal ...
