Spar Shipping has won a UK High Court wrangle with Grand China Logistics (GCL) that turned on whether a top company official had the power to lock the HNA Group subsidiary into contract guarantees.
Justice Oliver Popplewell, of the Queen’s Bench Division’s Commercial Court, ruled that Jia Hongxiang, who was GCL’s executive board chairman at the time, had authority to sign guarantees on three time charters, despite assertions that Chinese law puts that power only in the hands of the higher ranking board chairman.
