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

Mealey's International Arbitration

December 12, 2023
D.C. Circuit Affirms Confirmation Of $440M ICSID Award Against Venezuela

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth more than $440 million against Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its foreign ministry for the expropriation of two Spanish entities’ investments was properly confirmed without review of the tribunal’s merits or jurisdictional findings pursuant to the ICSID Convention.
December 11, 2023
Shareholder Tells 2nd Circuit Gabon Account Freeze Order In Pipeline Dispute Was Proper

NEW YORK — An investor in a Cameroonian pipeline company currently arbitrating a shareholder dispute tells the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief that a federal judge correctly ordered two Citibank entities to comply with an emergency arbitrator’s order that they compel a Gabonese affiliate to freeze the pipeline company’s $151 million account, writing that the court did not err or abuse its discretion.
December 06, 2023
Saudi Heirs’ Lawyer Opposes $268,000 Attorney Fees Sanction For Filing Fake Article

SAN FRANCISCO — The attorney who unsuccessfully petitioned to confirm an arbitral award worth $18 billion in favor of the heirs of Saudi Arabian sheikhs against U.S. oil companies filed a brief in California federal court opposing the entry of judgment against him for roughly $268,000 in attorney fees that he was ordered to pay as a sanction after he filed a faked news article as an exhibit to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
December 05, 2023
BVI Entity Appeals Judge’s Order Restoring $4M To $10.5M Gas Well Award

HOUSTON — A British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity filed a notice of appeal in Texas federal court stating that it will challenge the judgment entered after the court vacated the portion of an addendum award that reduced the tribunal’s original $10.5 million award for a dispute over profits from gas wells in the Republic of Cameroon by more than $4 million.
December 04, 2023
Cypriot Investor Asks Court To Enforce More Than $50M Award Against Poland

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Cypriot investor filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court seeking to enforce an arbitral award against the Republic of Poland for more than 200 million Polish zloty and 500,000 euros.
December 04, 2023
Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbek Entities Settle Dispute Over $42M Resort Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Dec. 1 ordered the dismissal of the Kyrgyz Republic’s petition to vacate a split tribunal’s award against it worth more than $42 million in favor of four Uzbek entities in a dispute over resorts the entities helped to construct in the 1950s after the parties settled the dispute and submitted a joint stipulation stating that the award is now “extinguished.”
December 01, 2023
High Court Distributes Petition Challenging $392M Ecuadorian Oil Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court distributed for conference a U.S. oil company’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of an award against it worth more than $392 million in relation to a $1 billion Ecuadorian oil dispute after the Chinese company-owned respondent waived its right to respond.
November 30, 2023
Confidentiality Rules Set In Gold Miner’s $100M NAFTA Claim Against Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 29 published an order setting confidentiality rules for a Canadian gold mining company’s arbitration against the United Mexican States and the miner’s request for arbitration in which it accuses Mexican courts of a “judicial expropriation” in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
November 30, 2023
In GitHub AI Copyright Suit, Parties Told To Meet, Confer Not Move To Compel

SAN FRANCISCO — While a California federal court mulls a second round of motions from OpenAI Inc., GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. seeking dismissal of claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) related to allegations of improper attribution in the development of an artificial intelligence tool, a magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery responses in favor of a directive for the parties to meet and confer about discovery disputes.
November 27, 2023
ExxonMobil Entities Seek To Confirm Nearly $1B Award Against Venezuela

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Exxon Mobil entities filed a petition in a District of Columbia federal court seeking to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth roughly $1 billion issued in their favor after more than 15 years of arbitration against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the expropriation of their oil investments, arguing that the court’s jurisdiction is proper and that there is no basis to refuse enforcement of the award.
November 01, 2023
COMMENTARY: The Annulment Of Arbitral Awards For Violation Of International Public Policy Under Spanish Law

By Sofía Rivas and Michelle Donovan
November 20, 2023
COMMENTARY: A Second Bite At The Rotten Apple?: Diverging Approaches To National Court Review Of Arbitral Tribunals’ Findings On Corruption

By Arif Hyder Ali and Michael A. Losco
November 21, 2023
Casino Dispute’s Arbitrability Should Be Delegated To Arbitrator, High Court Told

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-incorporated entity owned by a Hong Kong investor filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court urging it to review the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a district court’s order compelling arbitration of its dispute with a CNMI regulator over its license to make a $3.14 billion investment in a casino and hotel in Saipan.
November 21, 2023
Judge Denies Russia’s Motion To Dismiss Petition To Confirm $57B Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied the Russian Federation’s motion to dismiss a petition by shareholders seeking to enforce arbitral awards against Russia worth more than $57 billion, rejecting Russia’s argument that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction due to its sovereign immunity and ordering that the case proceed to the merits.
November 17, 2023
Nigeria Tells D.C. Circuit Tribunal Wrongly Awarded Chinese Company $70M

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Republic of Nigeria writes in an appellant brief to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that an arbitral award worth nearly $70 million in favor of a Chinese company should not be enforced under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) because the company’s contract was with a Nigerian state, not the nation itself.
November 17, 2023
Tribunal Clarifies Breach Date In 14.5M Euro Award To Serbian Dairy Farm Investor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal issued a supplementary decision clarifying the effective breach date from which pre-award interest will accrue on 14.5 million euros in damages it previously awarded a Canadian investor for the republic of Serbia’s seizure of his shares in a dairy farm investment.
November 17, 2023
Company Urges High Court To Review Validity Of $392M Ecuadorian Oil Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California oil company filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s affirmance of an International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) 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, arguing that the award was tainted by an arbitrator’s lack of impartiality.
November 15, 2023
Brazilian Companies Dismiss Bid To Confirm $38M Solar Panel Award After Settlement

NEW YORK — Fourteen Brazilian companies on Nov. 14 filed in New York federal court a notice of voluntary dismissal of their petition 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, three months after the parties reportedly reached a settlement.
November 15, 2023
Energy Investors Ask Court To Enforce $115M ICSID Award Against Peru

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Singaporean electricity investors on Nov. 14 filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court seeking to confirm an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal’s award worth more than $115 million against the Republic of Peru for enacting a “seriously arbitrary” regulation on power generation that harmed their investment.
November 14, 2023
Creditors Say High Court Need Not Review Venezuela, Oil Company’s Alter-Ego Status

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Six creditors urge the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), writing in an opposition brief that the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly found for the second time that the parties are alter egos and lack sovereign immunity from a planned auction of oil shares to enforce arbitral awards worth nearly $3 billion.
November 08, 2023
Judge: Dubai Arbitration Center’s Replacement Bars Arbitration Of Saudi Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge denied a motion to dismiss or compel arbitration of a $1.3 million dispute over a Saudi oil and gas project, finding the parties’ arbitration clause unenforceable because their contract provided for arbitration before a Dubai institution the government of Dubai abolished and replaced in 2021.
November 07, 2023
Judge Vacates Tribunal’s Addendum Slashing $4M From $10.5M Gas Well Award

HOUSTON — A Texas federal judge on Nov. 6 granted a U.S. company’s motion to partly confirm and partly vacate two arbitral awards issued in a dispute with a British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity over profits from gas wells in the Republic of Cameroon, finding as the company argued that the tribunal erred in issuing an addendum granting the BVI entity’s request to reduce its original award by more than $4 million.
November 06, 2023
Judge Confirms Chemical Factory Award In Favor Of Dow’s German Subsidiary

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted an unopposed petition to confirm a negotiated arbitral award reflecting a settlement between two German entities over their dispute for approximately $7 million in costs required to replace certain equipment at a German chemical factory owned by a subsidiary of Dow Chemical and of which the other party was a tenant.
November 03, 2023
Gabon Account Freeze Order In Pipeline Dispute Harmed Comity, 2nd Circuit Told

NEW YORK — Two Citibank entities in an appellant brief filed with the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenge a New York federal judge’s “unprecedented extraterritorial order” directing them to compel a Gabonese affiliate to freeze a Cameroonian pipeline company’s $151 million account pending the outcome of a shareholder arbitration, writing that the order offends comity and was issued the same day a Gabonese court unfroze the account.
November 02, 2023
Judge OKs 7 Creditors’ Bids To Enforce $3.5B In Judgments Against Venezuela

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on Nov. 1 granted motions for writs of attachment filed by seven groups of award-creditors and bondholders seeking to enforce judgments collectively worth roughly $3.5 billion against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as part of a planned auction, after finding that Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) are collaterally estopped from denying their alter-ego status.