Hew Dundas is well-used to Expert Determination given its widespread use in the oil industry, e.g. in reservoir redeterminations, oil & gas pricing, crude or product quality determinations and certain disputes arising out of the accounting procedures attached to PSCs or JOAs.
Although Expert Determination is widely used in these areas, he believes that it has potentially much wider application and has experience of acting as an expert in a legal situation comparable to that type of dispute resolution clause found in certain insurance policies and known as a "QC determination clause" where a legal issue, possibly forming only part of a wider dispute, is referred to a QC for determination.
The principal advantage of expert determination is that it can be as rapid and cost-effective as the parties choose; in one case, Hew Dundas was asked to provide an expert determination within one hour. Although such a case might suggest that its circumstances were unique, in fact the case in question was a situation which arises daily both in the oil industry and in general commerce where two parties were unable to agree a single legal point and, to save time and the wasted costs of further non-productive negotiation, decided to refer the matter to a mutually acknowledged expert for determination.
Although Expert Determination is widely used in these areas, he believes that it has potentially much wider application and has experience of acting as an expert in a legal situation comparable to that type of dispute resolution clause found in certain insurance policies and known as a "QC determination clause" where a legal issue, possibly forming only part of a wider dispute, is referred to a QC for determination.
The principal advantage of expert determination is that it can be as rapid and cost-effective as the parties choose; in one case, Hew Dundas was asked to provide an expert determination within one hour. Although such a case might suggest that its circumstances were unique, in fact the case in question was a situation which arises daily both in the oil industry and in general commerce where two parties were unable to agree a single legal point and, to save time and the wasted costs of further non-productive negotiation, decided to refer the matter to a mutually acknowledged expert for determination.