Li­ti­ga­ti­on / Ar­bi­tra­ti­on Pro­cee­dings

The right mo­ve
for the best re­sult.

LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA its­elf re­pres­ents cli­ents in le­gal dis­pu­tes be­fo­re all or­di­na­ry courts of law in Ger­ma­ny.

Whe­re le­gal dis­pu­tes ari­se in for­eign count­ries, ba­sed on our es­tab­lished in­ter­na­tio­nal con­nec­tions, we sel­ect a sui­ta­ble lo­cal law firm and coor­di­na­te the li­ti­ga­ti­on in or­der best to ser­ve our cli­ents’ in­te­rests. We re­pre­sent par­ties in na­tio­nal and in­ter­na­tio­nal ar­bi­tra­ti­on pro­cee­dings. Our la­wy­ers are fre­quent­ly cal­led upon to act as ar­bi­tra­tors, ad­ju­di­ca­tors or le­gal ex­perts in ar­bi­tra­ti­on.

We are fre­quent­ly in­s­truc­ted to is­sue an ex­pert opi­ni­on on Ger­man law for pre­sen­ta­ti­on to for­eign courts, and our la­wy­ers ap­pear be­fo­re courts in for­eign count­ries in their ca­pa­ci­ty as ex­perts on Ger­man law.

  • We have ad­vi­sed and re­pre­sen­ted a US ship ow­ner and its insurer in re­la­ti­on to Ger­man law lia­bi­li­ty is­sues ari­sing out of a fire da­ma­ge on­board a Ro­Ro ship and in the li­ti­ga­ti­on in Ger­ma­ny; we have sup­port­ed the par­al­lel US dis­co­very pro­cee­dings and me­dia­ti­on pro­cess.
  • We have re­pre­sen­ted a cli­ent in DIS ad­ju­di­ca­ti­on and ar­bi­tra­ti­on pro­cee­dings wi­th re­gard to a dis­pu­te con­cer­ning the con­s­truc­tion of an off­shore wind farm.
  • We have ad­vi­sed a Ger­man ship­ping group in con­nec­tion wi­th its can­cel­la­ti­on of a se­ries of eight ship­buil­ding con­tracts en­te­red in­to wi­th an Asi­an shi­py­ard and ac­ted for the cli­ent in the en­suing suc­cessful Lon­don ar­bi­tra­ti­on for the re­fund of a very sub­stan­ti­al amount re­pre­sen­ting the in­st­al­ments paid un­der the con­tracts, plus in­te­rest, and in re­co­ve­ring the award­ed sums un­der the re­fund gua­ran­tees.
  • We have ac­ted for cli­ents in a Lon­don ar­bi­tra­ti­on pur­suing a sub­stan­ti­al cla­im for loss of hi­re fol­lo­wing the fail­ure of the cli­ents’ char­te­rer to ta­ke de­li­very of the ves­sel as a new­buil­ding. The dis­pu­te in­vol­ved com­plex de­li­very pro­vi­si­ons in the chain of char­ter par­ties and the ques­ti­on whe­ther they we­re ali­gned wi­th tho­se of the ship­buil­ding con­tract. The ca­se al­so in­vol­ved the is­sue as to whe­ther the ves­sel was in a de­li­vera­ble con­di­ti­on un­der the ship­buil­ding con­tract.
  • We have ac­ted for a cli­ent in a lar­ge cla­im for loss of hi­re un­der a long-term time char­ter in a mul­ti-ju­ris­dic­tion­al dis­pu­te in­vol­ving count­ries in­clu­ding the UK, South Af­ri­ca, Aus­tra­lia, Chi­na, Sin­ga­po­re and Ma­lay­sia. The pur­su­it of the cla­im in­vol­ved re­pea­ted­ly exer­cis­ing li­ens on sub-freight and car­ry­ing out mul­ti­ple ship ar­rests. The ca­se in­vol­ved ma­jor is­sues such as the exis­tence of a re­pu­dia­to­ry breach for non-pay­ment of hi­re un­der the char­ter and the ques­ti­on of com­mon con­trol of va­rious mem­bers of a com­plex ship­ping group for the pur­po­se of an as­so­cia­ted ship ar­rest. Com­plex stra­te­gic con­side­ra­ti­ons we­re in­vol­ved due to the in­sol­ven­cy of the char­te­rer deb­tor and the ma­ny ju­ris­dic­tions in­vol­ved. The claims and coun­ter-claims we­re pur­sued on the me­rits in par­al­lel in va­rious ju­ris­dic­tions and in­vol­ved pie­cing of the cor­po­ra­te veil.
  • We have ac­ted for the ves­sel ow­ners in a hull cla­im un­der suc­ces­si­ve Ger­man po­li­ci­es rai­sing is­sues as to the scope of co­ver and ap­por­ti­onment of the cla­im un­der the po­li­ci­es.
  • Our part­ner Dr Die­ter Arm­brust was ap­poin­ted as ex­pert on Ger­man law in a Lon­don ar­bi­tra­ti­on which rai­sed high­ly com­plex Ger­man law points on the ef­fect of Ger­man insu­rance ar­ran­ge­ments on title to sue un­der an Eng­lish law ship­buil­ding con­tract.
  • We have ac­ted for the shipow­ners in con­nec­tion wi­th an oil pol­lu­ti­on in­ci­dent in the port of Val­dez, Alas­ka ori­gi­na­ting from con­tai­ne­ri­sed car­go.
  • We act for shipow­ners, is­suing hou­ses and other par­ties in de­fen­ding num­e­rous claims by in­ves­tors in clo­sed-end ship­ping funds.
  • Ac­ting as ar­bi­tra­tor in a ma­jor dis­pu­te sur­roun­ding the re­scis­si­on of a share deal in the tex­ti­le in­dus­try.

Th­rough our la­wy­ers who are ad­mit­ted to prac­ti­ce as so­li­ci­tors in Eng­land & Wales, we re­pre­sent cli­ents in ar­bi­tra­ti­on pro­cee­dings in Lon­don.