Mealey's International Arbitration
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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
[Editor’s Note: Copyright © 2023, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.]
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March 24, 2023
Court Confirms $2M Costs Award Against Investor In Mexican Telecoms Dispute
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — An Iowa federal court on March 23 granted the United Mexican States’ petition to enforce a more than $2 million award issued by an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal against an American telecommunications investor for costs and fees after it rejected his North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claims and denied his motion to strike Mexico’s reply brief for allegedly improperly raising new arguments.
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March 24, 2023
Post-Settlement Dispute With Brazilian Oil Company Not Arbitrable, High Court Told
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several former joint venture partners of a Brazilian oil company and its U.S. subsidiary in a March 23 brief urge the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling that the parties’ global settlement agreement superseded a preexisting contract containing an arbitration agreement.
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March 24, 2023
Potato Companies Seek To Enforce $4.3M Award For Indian Joint Venture Dispute
TRENTON, N.J. — The U.S. and India-based affiliates of a potato company filed a petition in New Jersey federal court to confirm a Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) arbitral award worth more than $4.3 million against an Indian company for a dispute over their potato production joint venture based in Gujarat, India.
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March 23, 2023
Firm, Construction Companies Stipulate To Dismissal Of Arbitration Fees Dispute
BOSTON — An Austrian construction company, its U.S. subsidiary and a law firm on March 22 filed a stipulated dismissal with prejudice in Massachusetts federal court waiving all rights of appeal, ending litigation over the construction companies’ claims that the law firm charged them “unreasonable” attorney fees during arbitration of a construction dispute.
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March 22, 2023
Coal Producer Must Arbitrate $115M Fire Dispute With Foreign Insurers, Judge Says
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge on March 21 stayed a coal producer’s lawsuit against its international insurers for reducing the producer’s $115 million claim for mine fires by more than 90% and ordered the parties to arbitration after finding that a state law prohibiting mandatory arbitration clauses in insurance contracts does not reverse-preempt the New York Convention.
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March 21, 2023
Investor In Natural Gas Facility, Pipeline Seeks $20B In NAFTA Claim Against Canada
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 20 published a request for arbitration filed by a U.S. investor who claims that the government of Canada breached the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and caused it more than $20 billion in damages by rejecting its proposal to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Québec.