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97 Tex. L. Rev. Online 1 (2018-2019)

handle is hein.journals/seealtex97 and id is 1 raw text is: 











Texas Law Review Online
Volume  97


Article




English Justice for an American Company?

Christopher   C.  French*



I.   Introduction
     Imagine finding yourself in litigation in a foreign country. Then,
imagine learning that, in the past, your opponent has routinely hired the
person who will be the neutral adjudicator in your case. Now imagine that
since the commencement  of the litigation your opponent subsequently has
appointed the adjudicator to also be its party-appointed arbitrator in other
pending disputes arising out of the same incident that has given rise to your
dispute. And, imagine  that neither the adjudicator nor your opponent
discloses the adjudicator's appointments in the other pending disputes.
Would  you feel like the adjudicator is going to treat your case fairly and
impartially?
     Assuming  the case does not involve a car accident caused by an
American  tourist in a third world country that is being adjudicated in a
sham trial, do you think the judge would remove the neutral adjudicator if
you were  to challenge the adjudicator for potential bias in favor of your
opponent?  If you said yes, then you would be wrong  in an  English
arbitration proceeding pursuant to a Bermuda Form insurance policy.
     This scenario is not a hypothetical situation. The material elements of
this scenario currently are unfolding in English courts for Halliburton
Company   (Halliburton), a Fortune 100 company based in Houston with
approximately 55,000 employees and operations in about 70 countries.
     On April 20, 2010, when a deep-water oil well in the Gulf of Mexico
was in the process of being plugged and temporarily abandoned, the well

* Christopher C. French is a Professor of Practice at Penn State Law School; J.D., Harvard Law
School; B.A., Columbia University.
   1. HALLBURTON Co., 2017 ANNUAL REPORT, FORM 10-K 1 (2018).

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