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

Mealey's International Arbitration

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.
May 25, 2023
English Justice Refuses To Set Aside Registration Of Award Against Spain

LONDON — An English justice on May 24 refused to set aside the registration of an arbitral award worth 120 million euros against the Kingdom of Spain for harming two renewable energy investors’ investments, rejecting Spain’s sovereign immunity defense based on recent European Union judicial precedent prohibiting intra-EU arbitration and writing that the award must be enforced based on English legislation and stare decisis.
May 25, 2023
Share Transfer Doesn’t Moot Djibouti Company’s Arbitration Agreement, Judge Says

LONDON — An English judge denied a Djibouti state-owned port company’s application to set aside an arbitrator’s finding that it is still bound by a joint venture agreement with its Dubai-based former partner, writing that the applicant’s transfer of its ownership in the joint venture to the state does not moot the enforceability of the underlying arbitration agreement.
May 24, 2023
U.S. Company Seeks $57.46M From Dominican Republic In ICSID Contract Breach Claim

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a U.S. asphalt company’s memorial on the merits of its claim that the Dominican Republic breached investment treaty obligations by terminating a contract with the company for delivery of millions of gallons of asphalt, writing that the government abruptly stopped payment in 2020 after a new administration came into power.
May 23, 2023
ICSID Ends Mining Companies’ Bid To Annul Denial Of Claims Against Guinea

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has discontinued proceedings on an annulment application filed by a group of mining entities controlled by an Israeli billionaire that sought to challenge an award denying their claims for expropriation of a mining license against the Republic of Guinea but that failed to pay ICSID mandatory advance fees.
May 15, 2023
COMMENTARY: Blasket v Spain: Troubling New Questions On A State’s Capacity To Enter Into Arbitration Agreements

By David Roney, Tanya Landon and Michail Dekastros
May 22, 2023
1st Circuit Says Puerto Rico Law Doesn’t Trump Foreign Arbitration Clause

BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 19 addressed a question of first impression in ruling that a Puerto Rican recycling company’s claims against its foreign insurer must be arbitrated pursuant to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention).
May 22, 2023
High Court Denies Cert In Brazilian Oil Company’s Arbitrability Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 22 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Brazilian oil company and its U.S. subsidiary seeking review of the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling that their parties’ global settlement agreement with several former joint venture partners superseded a preexisting contract containing an arbitration agreement.
May 22, 2023
Tribunal Rejects Mexican Investors’ 647M Euro Claim Over Spanish Bank’s Collapse

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A group of Mexican share- and bondholders in Spain’s Banco Popular were defeated in their claims against the Kingdom of Spain for allegedly failing to prevent the bank’s collapse and the loss of their investments’ value, with a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal ordering the claimants to pay Spain 7.9 million euros in attorney fees and arbitration costs.