The International Court of ARBITRATION
The dispute in question is between a furniture manufacturer and an interior design company. While the manufacturer (the Claimant) is a Pvt. Ltd. Company based in Thane, Maharashtra, the respondent is a firm based in Goa. The claimant was to supply custom designed furniture to the respondent, who in-turn was under contract with his client to design an office space. The terms agreed upon were 25% as advance and the remaining to be paid seven days from the delivery date. The total supply was to be in three chunks over a period of 3 months.
While the respondent had honoured all payments in the first two deliveries made, the third parcel was delivered and not paid for as agreed in the week that succeeded. With repeated requests, a small part of the outstanding was paid; thenceforth, there was hardly any communication between the parties, and the respondent avoided all approaches from the claimant. While the only outcome was to go for litigation as a final measure, PrivateCourt was approached for initiating a settlement.
After studying all the documents on hand and establishing that the claimant had a rightful claim, the negotiator reached out to the respondent. After an in-depth discussion, the negotiator understood that the reason for nonpayment had been that the budget approved for his contract was overshot, and his client had denied clearing his invoices which in turn rendered him helpless in paying the claimant. The negotiator then requested an audience with the client of the respondent and explained the issue at hand to them. The respondent's client, understanding the issue, agreed to honour his payments which amounted to the value of the furniture supplied.
The total outstanding amount of Rs. 51,713/- was to be paid by a bank transfer to the respondent in two instalments as follows:
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