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THE Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision to stay a lawsuit brought by Eastman Enterprise Ltd against the CEPEP Company Ltd, ruling that the contractor must first follow the mandatory dispute-resolution process in its agreement with CEPEP before turning to litigation.

In a judgment delivered on Friday at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, Justice of Appeal Peter Rajkumar—along with Justices James Aboud and Ricky Rahim—confirmed that the contract’s mediation and arbitration clauses are binding and operate as a condition precedent to filing a lawsuit.

The Court found that the ADR procedure outlined in Clause 17 was sufficiently detailed and enforceable, and that even urgent interim relief could have been sought before an arbitral tribunal under the 2023 Arbitration Act.