Mealey's International Arbitration : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's International Arbitration

June 30, 2023
Investors, Spain Clash In Intra-EU Jurisdictional Dispute Before D.C. Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — European investors seeking to confirm two arbitral awards and the Kingdom of Spain filed appellee briefs June 29 in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in three appeals being heard by one panel concerning whether European investors can seek enforcement of International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) awards despite European Union legal rulings prohibiting intra-EU arbitration.
June 28, 2023
Djibouti Tells D.C. Circuit Creditor In $541M Dispute Didn’t Authorize Litigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Djibouti in an appellant brief filed in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals says that a federal judge erred by confirming two London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) arbitral awards worth more than $541 million against it despite the fact that the petitioner, a Djibouti-based joint venture, is currently under the control of an administrator who did not authorize the filing of the petition.
June 28, 2023
EU Tells D.C. Circuit Confirmed Award Against Romania ‘Disregards’ Comity

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The European Union’s executive branch, the European Commission (EC), filed an amicus curiae brief to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting the government of Romania’s fourth appeal challenging an arbitral award worth more than $350 million against it, writing that U.S. courts should abide by a ruling from the EU’s highest court prohibiting payment of the award in favor of Swedish investors.
June 28, 2023
9th Circuit Sanctions Saudi Heirs’ Lawyer For Fake Article In $18B Award Fight

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals adopted a special master’s report and recommendations that an attorney for the heirs of Saudi Arabian sheikhs be sanctioned by being required to pay an oil company’s attorney fees incurred litigating his filing of a fraudulent news article as evidence in support of his attempts to enforce a controversial $18 billion arbitral award and adopted the recommendation that the attorney be referred for disciplinary proceedings.
June 27, 2023
Bid To Confirm Award For Brazilian Sales Dispute Belongs In Florida, Magistrate Says

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal magistrate judge on June 26 recommended denying a Brazilian holding company and its owner’s motion to dismiss a petition to confirm an arbitral award against them worth more than 2.5 million Brazilian reais for allegedly draining Brazilian assets, in part through Florida real estate purchases, to evade payment of various debts.
June 27, 2023
Moldova Moves For Relief From $58.6M Award Citing French Court’s Vacatur

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Moldova on June 27 moved in District of Columbia federal court for relief from judgments entered confirming an arbitral award worth more than $58.6 million against it for an electricity contract dispute, citing a French appellate court’s recent ruling voiding the award.
June 26, 2023
ICSID Rejects Russian Telecommunications Company’s $2.1B Claim Against Turkmenistan

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal ordered a Russian telecommunications company to pay the nation of Turkmenistan more than $11 million in costs and fees after rejecting its claims for $2.1 billion in damages for harm to its telecommunications investment, finding no evidence that Turkmenistan was liable for the company’s claimed treaty breaches.
June 26, 2023
Ukrainian Oil Company Sues To Enforce $5B Award Against Russia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Ukrainian state-owned oil company and five of its subsidiaries filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court to confirm a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal’s award worth roughly $5 billion against the Russian Federation representing the lost value of gas and oil assets seized after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
June 26, 2023
Recycler Urges 1st Circuit To Reconsider Arbitration With Foreign Insurer

BOSTON — A Puerto Rican recycling company on June 23 filed a petition for rehearing en banc to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that its ruling requiring the recycler to enter arbitration with its foreign insurers improperly held that the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention) preempts the Puerto Rico Insurance Code’s anti-insurance arbitration provision.
June 23, 2023
New Balance Settles South American Dispute After 1st Circuit Upholds Award

BOSTON — A joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal with prejudice was filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals by New Balance Athletics Inc., an Ecuadorian businessman and his Peruvian company shortly after the First Circuit reversed a district court’s vacatur of an approximately $3.3 million arbitration award against the businessman and his company for a distribution dispute with New Balance.
June 23, 2023
ICSID Dismisses Investor’s Claim Against Croatia, Citing Nationality Status

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal ordered an investor to pay the Republic of Croatia nearly $2 million in attorney fees and arbitration costs after finding its jurisdiction over the dispute precluded by the fact that the investor, who claimed German citizenship, was a “dual national” of Croatia and Germany when his request for arbitration was registered.
June 23, 2023
Court Erred In Compelling Arbitration Of $7M Hurricane Ida Suit, 5th Circuit Told

NEW ORLEANS — An insured tells the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in its appellant brief that a Louisiana federal court erred by compelling arbitration of a dispute over its claims for $7 million in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith against its foreign and domestic insurers, arguing that its domestic insurers cannot circumvent an anti-arbitration clause under Louisiana law.
June 22, 2023
High Court Upholds Russian Creditor’s RICO Claim For Unpaid $92M Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 22 ruled that a Russian citizen had standing to bring a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) action against a debtor residing in California and his Monaco bank for concealing assets to evade enforcement of an arbitral award worth $92 million, writing that a “contextual approach” establishes that the RICO claim was based on a “domestic injury.”
June 21, 2023
Company Amends Claims For Seizure Of $7.1M Condo To Enforce Award Against Congo

NEW YORK — A Congolese company filed an amended petition in New York federal court for turnover of a $7.1 million Trump Tower condo, allegedly bought for use by the Congo Republic’s president’s daughter, to partly enforce two arbitral awards collectively worth more than $1 billion against the republic, arguing anew after the dismissal of its previous petition that the republic is liable for the condo’s allegedly illegal purchase.
June 16, 2023
2nd Circuit Affirms $392M Award In Ecuadorian Oil Dispute, Vacates $166M In Interest

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 15 affirmed a federal court’s confirmation of an arbitral award worth more than $392 million against a California oil company for withholding its contractually obligated share of a $1 billion International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award against the Republic of Ecuador from another oil company, but vacated $166 million in prejudgment interest, citing the court’s failure to explain its interest calculations.
June 14, 2023
Produce Company Opposes Remand After 11th Circuit Vacates Arbitration Precedent

ATLANTA — A U.S. food company says the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should deny a Costa Rican farming company’s motion for limited remand to reconsider its defenses to a more than $30 million arbitration award for a pineapple dispute, writing that a recent en banc 11th Circuit’s ruling changing precedent on the availability of domestic grounds for vacatur of arbitration awards does not justify a remand.
June 14, 2023
Food Distributor Seeks To Vacate Award In Favor Of Its Litigation Funder

NEW YORK — A food distributor moved in New York federal court to vacate a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award in favor of its Guernsey-based third-party litigation funder preliminarily enjoining the distributor from accepting a settlement to resolve separate antitrust litigation against food suppliers, arguing that the tribunal violated public policy by forcing it “to litigate federal claims against its will.”
June 06, 2023
COMMENTARY: State Laws Prohibiting Arbitration Of Insurance Disputes: Are They Pre-Empted by the New York Convention?

By Robert M. Hall
June 08, 2023
ICSID Denies Sweden’s Request To Bifurcate Huawei’s 5G Ban Claim

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal denied the Kingdom of Sweden’s request to bifurcate an arbitral claim brought against it by a Chinese telecommunications company for banning the company from selling 5G technology and ordering its existing equipment removed from Swedish infrastructure, finding that Sweden’s objections are intertwined with the merits of the dispute.
June 08, 2023
Magistrate Compels Arbitration In Japan Of Microchip Manufacturers’ Dispute

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge granted a motion to compel arbitration of a dispute among chip-makers before the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA), finding that the U.S. company’s claims for tortious interference and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) against a Japanese chip-maker falls under the arbitration clause of a 2013 agreement between the parties.
June 05, 2023
German Entity Defaulted In Trademark, Award Fight With Twitch, Magistrate Says

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge recommended that a district judge grant a video-game streaming service’s motion for default judgment confirming a more than $1.5 million arbitral award against a German competitor that has not appeared in court and recommended denying a motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief filed by German parties that claim that they own the rights to the award-debtor’s domain name.
May 31, 2023
Judge Dismisses Bid To Seize $7M Condo To Partly Enforce Award Against Congo

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a motion to dismiss a Congolese company’s petition for turnover of a $7.1 million Trump Tower condo, allegedly bought for use by the Congo Republic’s president’s daughter, to partly enforce two arbitral awards collectively worth more than $1 billion against the republic, writing that while the awards were confirmed against the republic, the lawsuit targets the former president’s family.
May 31, 2023
Tribunal Sets Applicable Rules Date In Arbitration Against Qatar

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal rejected a French-Algerian investor’s request to apply an older set of ICSID arbitration rules to his claim based on the date he filed his notice of dispute, finding that the applicable rules are based on the date his request for arbitration was registered.
May 31, 2023
Dubai Port Investor Asks Court To Enforce $148M Award Against Djibouti

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Dubai-based investor and partner in a joint venture that operated an African container terminal on the Red Sea filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court on May 30 to confirm a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) arbitral award worth more than $148 million against the Republic of Djibouti for causing it damages by canceling its contract, seizing the terminal and expelling its personnel from the country.
May 31, 2023
Spain, Investor Dispute Jurisdiction Over Intra-EU Awards Before D.C. Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain and an award-creditor each filed appellant briefs on May 30 in three consolidated cases before the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concerning whether European investors’ arbitral awards issued under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) can be enforced in the United States despite recent European Union judicial precedents, which Spain says prohibit intra-EU arbitration retroactively.