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

Mealey's International Arbitration

January 20, 2023
2nd Circuit Affirms Refusal To Vacate Amended Award In Chinese Generator Dispute

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a district court’s refusal to vacate an arbitrator’s amended award against an American company for a dispute over the sale of generators manufactured in China, finding that the district court did not err by remanding the award for the arbitrator to issue a “reasoned award” and later finding the amended award enforceable.
January 20, 2023
United States Asks Tribunal To Bifurcate Canadian Pipeline Companies’ $15B Claim

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States recently requested that an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal bifurcate the arbitration brought against it by two Canadian entities for terminating their pipeline licenses, arguing that the tribunal should first address whether the entities can claim breaches of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for a dispute that arose six months after NAFTA was terminated.
January 19, 2023
ICSID Tribunal Bars New INTERPOL Evidence From Oil Dispute Against Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) recently published a tribunal’s order declining as time-barred a request by U.S. oil investors to admit as evidence INTERPOL’s latest decision on a red notice application filed by the United Mexican States, which the investors claim has filed false warrants against them in retaliation for bringing a $700 million North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim.
January 19, 2023
ICSID Disqualifies Arbitrator For Concurrent Service As United States Adviser

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Jan. 18 published a decision by the chair of its Administrative Council disqualifying the United States’ appointed arbitrator from hearing an arbitral dispute over three Ukrainian-owned entities in a dispute over the civil seizure of their real estate investments, writing that the arbitrator’s separate appointment to advise the United States on homeland security created the appearance of a lack of impartiality.
January 19, 2023
ICSID Releases Split Tribunal’s Award Against Peru For Devaluing Land Bonds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Jan. 18 published a split tribunal’s award of more than $100 million with interest in favor of two U.S. investment entities, in which the majority agreed that the Republic of Peru arbitrarily devalued the entities’ land bonds but awarded only 5% of the damages sought, while a dissenting arbitrator called the claims an “abuse of process."
January 19, 2023
Judge Compels Arbitration With 1 Reinsurer, Dismisses Those Claims But Stays Others

SEATTLE — Adopting a report and recommendation (R&R) in a declaratory judgment suit over reimbursement for defense and settlement of sexual abuse suits, a Washington state federal judge compelled arbitration and dismissed all claims against a foreign reinsurer, staying the proceeding as to the claims against another reinsurer.
January 17, 2023
Judge: Alter Egos May Be Liable For $48M Award In Brazilian Pig Iron Dispute

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Jan. 13 denied summary judgment on five Brazilian entities’ claim for enforcement of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral award worth more than $48 million against several companies tied to the liquidated Swiss award-debtor, finding based on the record that a reasonable jury could conclude they are alter egos of the award-debtor.
January 17, 2023
ICSID Committee Discontinues Pakistan Dispute With Mining Company

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) recently published an ad hoc committee’s order discontinuing the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s application to annual an arbitral award against it worth more than $11 billion several months after it and an Australian mining joint-venture settled their dispute over the rights to exploit a copper-gold deposit.
January 17, 2023
High Court Will Address Russian’s RICO Standing In $92M Arbitral Award Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 granted petitions for writs of certiorari filed by a Russian award-debtor residing in California and a Monaco bank, who sought high court review of a circuit split over foreign plaintiffs’ standing to bring Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims for harm to “intangible property” after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals approved a Russian citizen’s RICO suit against them for evading enforcement of a $92 million arbitral award.
January 13, 2023
Judge Partly Vacates Award Holding Nonsignatories Liable For Pre-Award Interest

HOUSTON — A Texas federal judge on Jan. 12 vacated the portion of a nearly $30 million arbitral award holding nonsignatory Chinese, British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Bermuda entities liable for more than $21 million in pre-award interest under an award that was previously confirmed in favor of a Texas company against a BVI entity but declined to vacate the portion of the award against the nonsignatories for attorney fees and arbitration costs.
January 12, 2023
Judge Enters $3.6M Judgment After Confirming Award In Chinese Real Estate Dispute

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge entered judgment in the amount of $3,614,772.78 in favor of a Chinese national’s estate after confirming two arbitral awards for attorney fees, interest and arbitration costs that a Hong Kong tribunal issued in the estate’s favor against a former partner who resides in Maryland, but declined to order payment of prejudgment interest.
January 11, 2023
Split 10th Circuit Affirms Refusal To Vacate Award Based On ‘Finality’ Concerns

DENVER — A split 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a Jan. 10 consolidated opinion affirmed a District Court’s order denying a motion to vacate the court’s prior judgment confirming an arbitral award worth more than $36 million against two Mexican companies after Bolivia’s highest court annulled the award, and likewise approved the court’s ruling ordering the Mexican companies to turn over assets in Mexico to the Bolivian award-creditor.
January 10, 2023
Judge Denies Relief After EU’s High Court Blocks Payment Of Award Against Romania

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge recently denied the government of Romania’s motion for relief from three judgments ordering it to pay a confirmed arbitral award worth more than $350 million plus $1.5 million in sanctions, writing that rulings by the European Union’s highest court prohibiting payment of the award in favor of Swedish investors do not void the court’s previous judgments.
January 09, 2023
High Court Won’t Hear Choice-Of-Law Dispute In Australian Jet Contract

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 9 denied an Australian entity’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review over whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) allows federal law to apply by default to an arbitration agreement in a contract governed by state law, as the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held when applying federal rather than Georgia law to uphold an $8 million arbitral award for a jet contract dispute.
January 05, 2023
Tribunal Finds No Jurisdiction Over Beachfront Investors’ Claim Against Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal in a recent award dismissed for lack of jurisdiction claims for $80 million in damages brought against the United Mexican States by six investors from Argentina, France, Portugal and Canada for expropriating their investments in beachfront properties, finding that three investors had renounced their nationalities in exchange for Mexican citizenship and the others lacked proper title under Mexican law.
December 22, 2022
D.C. Circuit Affirms Denial Of Stay Of Award Against Moldova Despite EU Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Dec. 21 per curiam opinion affirmed a federal court’s refusal to stay enforcement of an arbitral award against the Republic of Moldova for an electricity contract dispute, writing that the court’s ruling contains “no error” despite the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling that the underlying dispute was not arbitrable.
December 21, 2022
Panel Confirms $21M Award In Foraging Crops Dispute, Reverses $7M Reduction

PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed in part the confirmation of an arbitral award worth more than $21 million in favor of a California haymaker and its Samoan affiliate, but reversed the district court’s decision to vacate a $7 million “windfall” from its judgment, writing that despite “serious concerns about whether the arbitration award was correct” the full award must be confirmed due to “the stringent deference we owe to arbitration awards.”
December 20, 2022
Oil Rig Investors, Mexico Dispute Claims That NAFTA Breach Caused $700M In Damages

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Dec. 19 published post-hearing briefs filed separately by a group of U.S. investors and the United Mexican States, each disputing whether the investors have established that Mexico caused them more than $700 million in damages by expropriating their investment in breach of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or whether the damages were caused by regular fluctuations in the oil market.
December 19, 2022
Austrian Hospital Manager Seeks To Enforce $3M Award Against Gabonese Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Austrian provider of hospital management, maintenance and training recently filed a petition asking a District of Columbia federal court to enforce an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal’s arbitral award against the Gabonese Republic worth more than $3 million for nonpayment of hospital management contracts dating back to 2001.
December 19, 2022
Post-Settlement Dispute Was Arbitrable, Brazilian Oil Company Tells High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Brazilian oil company and a U.S. subsidiary urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a recent petition for a writ of certiorari to review a debate over arbitrability that they say has divided federal circuit courts and state high courts, arguing that the Texas Supreme Court wrongly found that a global settlement agreement they entered with former joint venture partners superseded the parties’ preexisting contract containing an arbitration agreement.
December 19, 2022
BVI Entity Seeks To Enforce Hong Kong Arbitrator’s $16.6M Award Against App Maker

SAN FRANCISCO — A British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) entity filed a petition in California federal court to enforce a Hong Kong tribunal’s arbitral award against a Cayman Islands app maker for harming its investment in connection with computer fraud for which 16 of the app maker’s employees, including the founder, have pleaded guilty in Chinese court to related criminal charges.
December 16, 2022
Enforcement Action Against UAE Debtor’s Alter Egos Should Proceed, Magistrate Says

NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge recommended the denial of two motions to dismiss a petition to hold several United Arab Emirates (UAE) citizens and their company liable as alter egos for an arbitral award worth more than $95 million for an aircraft lease dispute, writing that parallel proceedings in Abu Dhabi and Dubai concern different issues.
December 16, 2022
Split ICSID Tribunal Awards $100M For Peruvian Land Bonds, U.S. Company Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two U.S. investment entities recently announced that in a nonpublic award, a split International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal awarded them $100 million for the Republic of Peru’s failure to provide the minimum standard of treatment to land bonds they acquired from the republic more than 50 years ago in violation of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA).
December 15, 2022
Peru Says ICSID Tribunal Lacks Jurisdiction Over U.S. Gas Investor’s $136.3M Claim

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Peru writes in a countermemorial recently published by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) that a tribunal lacks jurisdiction over a U.S. investor’s claims that it expropriated his investment in a gas business, causing $136.3 million in damages, arguing that the claims are time-barred and were previously rejected by two other arbitral tribunals.