Case No. CL-2019-000290

[2011] EWHC 1842 (Comm), Blair J considered a case in which the parties had entered into a “Cash Distribution Agreement” (which he found was essentially an escrow agreement: [42]) containing an English jurisdiction clause, alongside an Operating Agreement for Mining Services which provided for arbitration. He noted at [41] that “there is nothing unusual about submitting a contractual dispute to arbitration whilst referring matters relating to security to the jurisdiction of one or more courts”, noting “this is frequently a feature of international transactions, and the choice of jurisdiction in the security agreement may have to do with factors independent of the principal agreement”. At [43] he concluded: “In my view, the claim in the English action is a claim under the CDA concerned with a procedure whereby the sums in dispute are to be set aside until the dispute is determined. It raises a discrete claim, related to, but distinct from, the underlying dispute arising under the OAMS which is the subject of the arbitration. There is no reason why the parties cannot be taken to have intended that these claims are to be the subject of different jurisdiction clauses.”. 20.In his judgment, Blair J referred to the decision of Andrew Ang J in the Singapore High Court in