Mealey's International Arbitration
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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.
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April 10, 2023
Judge Stays Arbitration Against Nonsignatories Pending Jurisdictional Review
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on April 7 granted two British Virgin Islands (BVI) entities’ motion for a preliminary injunction staying the merits phase of a pending international arbitration brought against them by Google’s Asian division in a dispute over $120 million in unpaid advertising invoices after finding that “serious legal questions exist” regarding the arbitral panel’s jurisdiction.
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March 30, 2023
Russian Award-Creditor Tells High Court RICO Claim For Unpaid $92M Award Is Proper
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Russian citizen urges the U.S. Supreme Court in a March 29 merits brief to reject arguments that it should “judicially legislate” a rule barring Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims by foreign plaintiffs, arguing that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly affirmed his RICO action against a Russian award-debtor and a Monaco bank for evading enforcement of a $92 million arbitral award.
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March 30, 2023
Venezuela To Appeal Order Allowing Enforcement By Award-Creditors
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) say in a joint status report filed in Delaware federal court that they will appeal a judge’s ruling permitting several judgment-creditors petitioning to enforce arbitral awards in their favor to attach the assets of PDVSA as Venezuela’s alter ego.
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March 29, 2023
Egyptian Investor, Canada Both Fail To Partly Annul Award In Telecoms Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 28 published an ad hoc committee’s decision refusing to annul a split tribunal’s award dismissing an Egyptian investor’s claims accusing Canada of harming its investment in wireless telecommunications, rejecting both parties’ applications to partly annul the award.
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March 28, 2023
U.S. Objects To Ukrainians’ BIT Claims For Property Frozen In Money Laundering Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 27 published the United States’ objections to an arbitration claim brought against it by three Ukrainian-owned entities that are seeking to challenge the civil seizure of their real estate investments for involvement in an alleged money laundering scheme.
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March 28, 2023
Judge Orders Discovery For Enforcement Of Award Worth $58.6M Against Moldova
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted an award-creditor’s motion for an order enforcing a judgment worth more than $58.6 million against the Republic of Moldova for a confirmed arbitral award in an electricity contract dispute that was previously affirmed on appeal and ordered Moldova to response to the creditor’s discovery requests.
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March 27, 2023
Judge Dismisses Zimbabwe From Mining Entities’ Bid To Confirm $50M Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge dismissed an action brought by two Mauritian mining investors to enforce an arbitral award worth more than $50 million against the Republic of Zimbabwe and its majority-state-owned mining company for lack of jurisdiction, but declined to dismiss claims against the office of Zimbabwe’s chief mining commissioner, which participated in the underlying arbitration.
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March 27, 2023
Committee Denies Spain’s Attempt To Annul $29.3M Award To Solar Investors
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ad hoc committee rejected the Kingdom of Spain’s application to annul a split tribunal’s $29.3 million award against it for violating the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) by rescinding legislative incentives that harmed the investments of two European claimants and ordered Spain to pay the claimants more than 462,000 euros in attorney fees and costs.
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March 15, 2023
COMMENTARY: International Arbitration Experts Discuss Yegiazaryan v. Smagin
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