The Case in a Nutshell

The decision 4A_396/2024 of 18 November 2024 of the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) concerns an appeal in civil law matters against an arbitral award issued by the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT). In the challenged award, a claim was dismissed based on the principle of Verwirkung (forfeiture), as established in the case-law of the BAT. According to this principle, claims are not heard if they are filed only after a substantial period of time. The appellant challenged the application of this principle as a violation of the principle of pacta sunt servanda. In a second plea, the appellant argued that the application of this principle was also surprising to him, constituting a violation of the appellant’s right to be heard. Both pleas were rejected and the appeal was thus unsuccessful.

The Facts

On 1 December 2017, the Basketball Federation B. engaged the professional coach A. as national basketball...

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