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

Mealey's International Arbitration

August 10, 2023
Kyrgyz Republic Says Tribunal Awarded ‘Punitive’ Interest Rate On $42M Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kyrgyz Republic filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court to vacate a split tribunal’s award against it worth more than $42 million in favor of four Uzbek entities that claimed damage to resorts they helped construct in the 1950s, writing that the majority overlooked the entities’ failures to comply with local laws and ordered that interest accrue on the award at a “punitive” rate that is improper under international law.
August 07, 2023
Tribunal Recommends Germany Not Pursue Legal Remedy Against Renewables Investor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal issued a “firm recommendation” that the Federal Republic of Germany not pursue a remedy that could affect the tribunal’s jurisdiction over an arbitral claim brought by Irish and German wind energy investors but declined to order Germany to withdraw from pending litigation seeking court declarations that the investors’ claim is inadmissible.
August 07, 2023
Judge Stays Solar Panel Companies’ UCL, Trade Secret Row Pending Arbitration

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge stayed a lawsuit brought by a Korean solar panel manufacturer accusing two California-based solar panel companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), misappropriation of trade secrets and defamation pending the outcome of the parties’ arbitration in Singapore, finding that the parties’ agreement delegates questions of arbitrability to the arbitrators.
August 04, 2023
Fruit Company Petitions 11th Circuit For Rehearing In Pineapple Award Row

ATLANTA — A California-based fruit company petitioned the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for panel and en banc rehearing of its appeal challenging a federal judge’s refusal to award it roughly $39.7 million in disgorgement for a Costa Rican company’s sales of a variety of pineapple the fruit company owns in violation of an arbitral award and court order.
August 03, 2023
Judge Won’t Dismiss Petition To Confirm Award In Brazilian Sales Dispute

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Aug. 2 adopted in full a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and denied 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.
August 03, 2023
2nd Circuit Told Section 1782 Discovery Doesn’t Apply To ICSID Arbitrations

NEW YORK — The Republic of Panama and an engineering company in an appellee brief tell the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it should affirm a ruling quashing an Italian company’s subpoena seeking discovery for an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) case, writing that under recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent a court cannot help a party obtain discovery for a “private investor-State arbitration proceeding.”
August 02, 2023
9th Circuit Nixes $1.3B Award Against Indian Company For Lack Of Jurisdiction

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 1 reversed entry of a $1.3 billion judgment confirming an arbitral award in favor of a since-liquidated Indian company against an Indian state-owned company for a satellite contract dispute, holding that a Washington federal judge erred by finding personal jurisdiction over the award-debtor after skipping a minimum-contacts analysis.
July 31, 2023
$7M Award Again Confirmed In Guatemalan Business’s Favor On Remand From 11th Circuit

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on July 28 confirmed an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal’s award worth more than $7 million issued in a dispute over a Guatemalan hydroelectric dam project, finding after applying domestic grounds for vacatur as ordered by the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the arbitrators did not exceed their powers in ordering the award-debtor to return advance payments with interest and to issue new bonds.
July 28, 2023
Magistrate Confirms $3M Award Despite Indian Company’s Failure To Return Equipment

FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge on July 27 granted an Indian company’s petition to confirm an arbitral award worth more than $3 million plus more than $300,000 in interest against a Texas company after finding that, despite the Indian company’s failure to return its industrial equipment, the Texas company waived its defenses by failing to participate in arbitration.
July 27, 2023
1st Circuit Won’t Reconsider Recycler’s Arbitration Dispute With Foreign Insurers

BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 26 denied a Puerto Rican recycling company’s petition to rehear en banc its challenge to an order compelling arbitration of its dispute over a fire claim with foreign insurers under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention).
July 24, 2023
Intervenor Says $47M NAFTA Award Against Mexico Harms His Reputation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Mexican businessman moved to intervene on July 21 in District of Columbia federal court in litigation between a Canadian real estate investor and the United Mexican States over a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) arbitral award worth approximately $47 million in the Canadian party’s favor, arguing that he was labeled a perpetrator of fraud in the award while being excluded from presenting any defense.
July 24, 2023
Haiti’s Motion For Relief Mooted By $31M Final Award’s Confirmation, Judge Says

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a motion by the Republic of Haiti (ROH) for relief from the court’s priori confirmation of a $23 million partial award against it for a fuel delivery dispute as moot in light of the court’s subsequent confirmation of a final award against it worth more than $31 million, writing that partial award was an interim measure ordering payment of pre-award security and “is no longer live.”
July 24, 2023
Panel: $500,000 Award For Ecuadorian Oil Dispute Proper, $14,000 In Interest Vacated

DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the confirmation of an arbitral award worth more than $500,000 in favor of a Texas-based energy company for a dispute over oil and gas work in Ecuador and affirmed a $60,000 attorney fees award in the company’s favor but vacated and remanded the court’s award of more than $14,000 in prejudgment interest on the fees.
July 24, 2023
Joint Venture Asks Court To Enforce $1.6B Award Against Iraqi Businessman, Company

PHILADELPHIA — A Kuwaiti-French joint venture filed a petition in Pennsylvania federal court to confirm an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award worth more than $1.65 billion against a telecommunications company and an Iraqi businessman for engaging in a complex loan fraud that harmed the joint venture’s investment.
July 19, 2023
COMMENTARY: International Arbitration Experts Discuss The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On International Arbitration

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July 21, 2023
English Panel Rejects Nigeria’s Opposition To $70M Award To Chinese Investor

LONDON — A two-justice panel of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales on July 20 upheld a judge’s refusal to permit the Federal Republic of Nigeria to appeal an order enforcing an arbitral award worth nearly $70 million in favor of a Chinese company for a dispute with a Nigerian state that allegedly expropriated its investment in business infrastructure in a designated “free-trade zone,” finding that the case does not present an issue of “general public importance.”
July 21, 2023
Judge Overrules Objections To CITGO Auction To Enforce Award Against Venezuela

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge overruled remaining objections to a planned auction of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s holdings in CITGO Petroleum Corp. to enforce an arbitral award worth more than $1.4 billion against it for expropriating gold mines, calling Venezuela’s objections to the auction “utterly unpersuasive” and setting a tentative launch date for marketing of the auction on Oct. 23.
July 20, 2023
Brazilian Companies Seek To Confirm $38M Award Against Solar Panel Maker

NEW YORK — Fourteen Brazilian companies filed a petition in New York federal court seeking to confirm an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award worth more than $38 million against a Singaporean solar panel manufacturer for failure to fulfill a solar panel sales agreement.
July 20, 2023
Judge Finds No Jurisdiction Over Chinese Businessman In $145M Award Row

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a Chinese businessman’s motion to dismiss a Cayman Islands’ entity’s petition to confirm a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) arbitral award against him for an investment dispute worth more than $145 million, finding that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the businessman despite his participation in defending his company from litigation in the same district court.
July 19, 2023
On Remand, Judge Again Rejects $1M Award Against Nonsignatory To Flooring Contract

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge on July 18 denied a Chinese company’s petition to confirm a China International Economic and Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) arbitral award worth nearly $1 million against a Pennsylvania company for a dispute over a flooring contract, finding that the award-creditor failed to prove that a valid arbitration agreement existed.
July 18, 2023
11th Circuit Won’t Remand Pineapple Award Row Despite New Arbitration Precedent

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied 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 based on new precedent recently issued by the en banc 11th Circuit and separately affirmed a federal judge’s refusal to award a California-based food company disgorgement for the Costa Rican party’s pineapple sales.
July 14, 2023
Moldovan Businessmen Seek Dismissal Of Kazakhstan Fraud Claims In $500M Award Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Moldovan investors and their companies moved in District of Columbia federal court to dismiss a complaint filed by the Republic of Kazakhstan seeking relief from the court’s judgment in a separate action confirming an arbitral award worth more than $500 million against it based on alleged fraud, which the Moldovan parties argue is untimely, doesn’t contain new evidence and doesn’t warrant relief from the judgment.
July 14, 2023
U.S. Oil Company Urges 2nd Circuit To Rehear $392M Award In Ecuadorian Oil Dispute

NEW YORK — A California oil company petitioned the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 13 to rehear en banc a panel’s ruling confirming an arbitral award against it worth more than $392 million for withholding another oil company’s share of a $1 billion award against the Republic of Ecuador, writing that the panel did not adequately address its contention that an arbitrator hearing the dispute “blatantly violated his disclosure obligations under the parties’ arbitration agreement.”
July 13, 2023
Libya Not Entitled To ‘Independent Review’ Of $27M Award, 2nd Circuit Says

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 12 affirmed the confirmation of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award worth more than $27 million against Libya for the attempted expropriation of land on which a Cypriot company built a juice and dairy factory, writing that a federal judge was not required to independently review the arbitrability of the dispute because Libya consented to the tribunal deciding that issue.
July 11, 2023
Venezuela’s Alter Ego Liability In $2.7B Award Cases Affirmed By 3rd Circuit

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals again affirmed that a federal court properly exercised its jurisdiction in granting six award-creditors’ writs of attachment to enforce judgments collectively worth more than $2.7 billion against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) as an alter ego of the state, finding that its alter ego status was not ended by changes in the republic’s leadership.