Mealey's International Arbitration
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May 01, 2023
5th Circuit To Review Challenge To Arbitrability Of $7M Hurricane Ida Claims
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal has granted an unopposed request to review a federal court’s ruling compelling arbitration of a dispute over an insured’s claims for millions of dollars in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith against its foreign and domestic insurers, after the insured and insurers both stated that the arbitrability of such claims is the subject of a “split among the Louisiana federal district courts.”
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April 26, 2023
Insurer Dismisses Suit Seeking To Compel Arbitration Over Reinsurance Security
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Noting that the plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice, a Connecticut federal judge on April 25 ordered closure of the suit that sought to compel arbitration over an alleged $22,738,571 deficiency in required security for reinsurance agreements.
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April 25, 2023
High Court Questions Why Russian Can’t Claim RICO To Enforce $92M Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 25 questioned a Russian residing in California and a Monaco bank during oral arguments why a foreign creditor would lack standing to bring a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claim against them for nonpayment of a $92 million arbitral award, with the justices asking why a RICO injury should only be considered felt at the victim’s domicile, rather than the location of the alleged wrongdoing.
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April 25, 2023
Judge Denies Djibouti’s Motion To Stay $541M Judgment Pending Appeal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on April 24 denied the Republic of Djibouti’s motion to stay execution of a $541 million judgment against it confirming two London Court of International Arbitration awards for a container terminal dispute pending its appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and ordered that execution will be stayed only if Djibouti posts a supersedeas bond.
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April 25, 2023
PPE Distributor Appeals Denial Of Arbitration In $8M Gloves Dispute To 8th Circuit
ST. LOUIS — A U.S. wholesale distributor of personal protective equipment (PPE) has appealed to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Missouri federal court’s ruling denying its motion to compel arbitration in Hong Kong with a Chinese manufacturer for a dispute over more than $8 million worth of unpaid invoices for nitrile gloves delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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April 24, 2023
ICSID Declines Cost Award After Investors End Claim Against Netherlands
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal formally took note of the discontinuance of three energy investors’ arbitral claims against the Kingdom of the Netherlands for harming their investments by issuing a 2020 order banning the usage of coal for production of electricity and dismissed the Netherlands’ request for a costs award against the investors.
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April 24, 2023
Spain Urges Federal Judge Not To Bar European Litigation Against Award-Creditor
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain in an opposition brief filed in a District of Columbia federal court says the court should not enjoin it from suing European investors in a Luxembourg courts to stop their efforts to enforce an arbitral award worth more than 35 million euros in the United States, writing that the litigation concerns questions of European Union and Luxembourgish law “over which this Court plainly lacks any jurisdiction.”
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April 24, 2023
Judge Confirms Award For Shaq’s Failure To Attend Polish Independence Party
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on April 21 confirmed an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral award against an athletics marketing company and its owner for violating an agreement with a Polish organization to bring Shaquille O’Neal to Warsaw for celebrations of Poland’s 100th anniversary of independence, finding the award properly issued despite O’Neal’s representatives’ claim that the Polish organization agreed to forfeit a $149,000 deposit.
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April 03, 2023
COMMENTARY: Functus Officio: An Exception For Reasoned Arbitration Awards?
By Robert M. Hall
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March 29, 2023
COMMENTARY: Wael Buheiry And Vistajet Limited – The English High Court’s Guidance On The Application Of Section 67 And 68 Of The Arbitration Act
By Richard Power and Khaled Abdelhaq
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April 03, 2023
COMMENTARY: Counsel Ethics In International Commercial Arbitration
By Tomas Vail and Farshad Rahimi Dizgovin
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April 21, 2023
ICSID Tribunal Dismisses Albania’s Request To Revise 107M Euro Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal granted several Italian investors’ application to dismiss the Republic of Albania’s application to revise a 2019 arbitral award ordering it to pay more than 107 million euros, rejecting Albania’s argument that post-award criminal convictions of individuals associated with the investors comprise a “new fact” warranting revision.
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April 21, 2023
$3.6M Awards In Chinese Real Estate Row Improperly Confirmed, 4th Circuit Told
RICHMOND, Va. — A Chinese real estate investor residing in Maryland tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellant brief that a federal court erred by disregarding her procedural defenses to confirming awards against her worth more than $3.6 million, writing that the awards are still being litigated among multiple nonparties in Hong Kong courts and that the court’s order risks requiring her to violate Chinese law.
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April 21, 2023
Judge Won’t Compel Arbitration Of ‘Soviet Mickey Mouse’ Licensing Dispute
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge on April 20 denied a Russian state-owned film studio’s motion to compel arbitration of a U.S. media marketing company’s breach of contract claims after finding that the word “arbitration” in the English version of the parties’ dual-language agreements did not create an enforceable arbitration clause as it was a direct translation of the Russian word “arbitrazh,” which refers to a commercial court.
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April 20, 2023
High Court Of Australia Dismisses Spain’s Sovereign Immunity Challenge To Award
CANBERRA, Australia — The High Court of Australia dismissed the Kingdom of Spain’s application appeal arising from an appellate court’s rulings rejecting Spain’s sovereign immunity defense to the recognition of a 101 million euro International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award in favor of two energy investors and also upheld the panel’s ruling that Spain maintains its immunity from execution.
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April 20, 2023
Nigeria Denies ‘Relationship’ With Chinese Company Seeking To Confirm $70M Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Republic of Nigeria is urging the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals not to grant summary affirmance in its appeal of a federal judge’s ruling denying its motion to dismiss a Chinese company’s petition to confirm an arbitral award worth nearly $70 million, writing that its appeal presents “novel issues” and denying that it was a party to the underlying contract from which the arbitration arose.
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April 20, 2023
Judge Dismisses RICO Claims Against Mauritian Arbitration Center
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a pro se litigant’s complaint against the Mauritius International Arbitration Centre (MIAC) after finding that the plaintiff, in his complaint accusing MIAC of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in part by accepting $14,000 in arbitration fees, failed to allege that he had suffered any injury.
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April 19, 2023
Spain Supports Aligning Renewable Energy Investors’ Appeals Before D.C. Circuit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain says it supports a motion to align a new appeal brought in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals by a renewable energy investor seeking to confirm a 26.5 million euro arbitral award against it with two similar appeals involving European renewable energy investors in the D.C. Circuit, writing that all three cases involve the same issue of jurisdiction over arbitral awards that Spain says cannot be enforced under European Union law.
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April 19, 2023
Seismic Surveyors Urge Tribunal To Find Jurisdiction In NAFTA Claim Against Canada
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on April 18 published a memorial on the merits filed by three investors and their geological survey company who accuse Canada of violating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by publicizing their confidential seismic data that was intended for sale to oil exploration companies, allegedly causing them more than 500 million Canadian dollars in damages.
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April 18, 2023
2nd Circuit Affirms Refusal To Stay $2.8M Award Against Lebanese Bank
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 17 affirmed a district court’s ruling denying a Lebanese bank’s request to stay enforcement of an arbitral award against it worth more than $2.8 million representing attorney fees incurred by a Kuwaiti-French joint venture while arbitrating a dispute with the bank.
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April 17, 2023
Federal Judge Confirms 2 Awards, French Judgment After Guinea Fails To Appear
WASHINGTON, D.C — A Belgian military contractor who signed two agreements with the Republic of Guinea but never received payment from the country is entitled to default judgment on its request to confirm two arbitration awards and a French court judgment against the African country because Guinea never appeared before the court, a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting the company’s motion for default judgment.
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April 14, 2023
Dismissal, Remand Argued In Dispute Over Arbitrator In Reinsurance Row
NEW YORK — Parties in a lawsuit seeking replacement of an arbitrator in a proceeding concerning two reinsurance contracts between Bermuda-based entities have filed competing motions in New York federal court, with one seeking remand and the other seeking dismissal.
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April 14, 2023
En Banc 11th Circuit: Domestic Law Applicable To $7M Award In Guatemalan Dispute
ATLANTA — Overruling two of its own precedents, the en banc 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 13 ruled that a district court may consider domestic grounds for vacatur under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in an action to vacate a $7 million arbitral award issued by a Miami-seated tribunal for a canceled Guatemalan hydroelectric dam project.
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April 13, 2023
Iraq Seeks Enforcement Of $1.5B Award Against Turkey Over Oil Pipeline Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Iraq filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking confirmation and enforcement of a nearly $1.5 billion International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award against Turkey for breaches of an agreement between the countries for the operation of crude oil pipelines.
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April 10, 2023
1st Circuit Reverses Vacatur Of $3.3M Award In New Balance Peruvian Dispute
BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s ruling granting an Ecuadorian businessman and his Peruvian company’s petition to vacate an approximately $3.3 million arbitration award against them in favor of New Balance Athletics Inc., writing that the lower court erred by finding that the parties seeking vacatur were not bound by the arbitration agreement.