Newsletter RSS

Mealey's International Arbitration

  • February 04, 2025

    Nicaragua Can’t Use Email, WhatsApp To Serve Debtors Owing $1.5M In Attorney Fees

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion by the Republic of Nicaragua for leave to use alternative service to serve respondents abroad against whom it seeks to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award worth more than $1.5 million in attorney fees for an oil investment arbitration it won, writing that Nicaragua did not prove that such service was warranted.

  • February 03, 2025

    Petition To Vacate Award In Gyroscope Dispute Was Untimely Served, Judge Says

    NEW YORK — In a dispute over a fiber-optic gyroscope license that spawned two separate arbitrations, a New York federal judge granted a motion to dismiss a petition to vacate an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal’s award finding jurisdiction over the dispute after finding that the petition was untimely and improperly served.

  • January 31, 2025

    High Court Review Of Peruvian Lead Smelter Case Is Not Needed, Claimants Say

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Catholic clergywomen and Peruvian children who sued the operators of a lead smelter for injuries have filed an opposition brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should deny a petition for certiorari asking whether Peru’s sovereignty is protected by the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), which the companies say requires all litigation to be conducted in Peru. The respondents contend that “the petitioners cite no decision barring state common-law claims in comparable circumstances” and therefore the lawsuit they filed in Missouri is valid.

  • January 30, 2025

    Judge Confirms Hong Kong Award Worth More Than $800K For Unpaid Loan

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge granted a Cypriot company’s motion for default judgment confirming a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) worth more than $800,000 against a Delaware entity that did not appear in court or participate in arbitration after failing to make required payments under a convertible loan agreement.

  • January 30, 2025

    Norway’s Request For $1M Security Costs Pending Latvian Snow Crab Annulment Denied

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ad hoc committee denied the Kingdom of Norway’s request that Latvian investors in the snow crab industry post $1 million in security costs while their application for annulment of an arbitral award rejecting their claims for harm to their crab investment is pending, and denied the investors’ request that Norway pay costs incurred deciding the security issue.

  • January 29, 2025

    India Tells High Court Veil-Piercing In $1.3B Award Row Was ‘Deeply Offensive’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of India, the Republic of Zimbabwe and an academic filed amicus curiae briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of an Indian state-owned corporation that is the respondent to a petition regarding whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly reversed a $1.3 billion arbitral award against it, with India arguing in its brief that the respondent was stripped of due process protections due to an improper application of veil-piercing law.

  • January 29, 2025

    Default Judgment Entered Confirming $36M Consent Award After Service Issue Cured

    TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington federal judge granted a Hong Kong citizen’s motion for default judgment confirming a Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) consent award worth more than $36 million against a U.S. citizen debtor after finding that the petitioner provided new evidence supporting his argument that the debtor was properly served.

  • January 28, 2025

    5th Circuit Reverses Order Barring Arbitration Due To Dubai Center’s Abolition

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 27 reversed a federal judge’s order refusing to compel arbitration of a $1.3 million dispute over a Saudi oil and gas project because the arbitration clause provided for arbitration before a Dubai institution that had since been abolished, writing that the institution’s abolition did not alter the parties’ “objective intent” to arbitrate.

  • January 27, 2025

    Spain Urges Court To Dismiss 22M Euro Award Issued To Wind Investors

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain, which is facing more than a dozen petitions in District of Columbia federal court to enforce arbitral awards against it in favor of European Union investors for violating the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) by rescinding government incentives for renewable energy, argues in a Jan. 24 supplemental brief in support of its motion to dismiss a petition to confirm an award worth 22 million euros that such awards are unenforceable under EU law.

  • January 27, 2025

    Trustee Seeks To Enforce $149M LCIA Award For Ukraine Grain Traders’ Debt

    NEW YORK — A Hong Kong entity that provided trustee services on behalf of certain investors filed a petition in New York federal court seeking to confirm a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award worth more than $149 million with interest against two businessmen who allegedly accepted millions in loans for a Ukrainian grain trading business but failed to repay their debts.

  • January 27, 2025

    English Judge Makes Antiarbitration Injunction Final In Reinsurance Row

    LONDON — In line with prior rulings in the contractual construction dispute that involves a hierarchy or “confusion” clause, a judge of the High Court of England and Wales rejected a reinsurer’s jurisdictional argument and granted a captive insurer’s request to issue an antiarbitration injunction on a final basis.

  • January 27, 2025

    Tribunal Dismisses Mining Claim Against Mongolia As ‘Abuse Of Process’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) posted a tribunal’s award dismissing for lack of jurisdiction a United States’ mining company’s claims against Mongolia after finding that the claim amounts to an “abuse of process” and ordered the claimant to pay Mongolia nearly $6 million in attorney fees and arbitration costs.

  • January 03, 2025

    COMMENTARY: The Evolution Of SIAC Arbitration - Innovations Driving Efficiency And Transparency

    By Christopher Bloch and Angela Yap

  • January 24, 2025

    Tribunal Clarifies Interest Rate In $37.1M Award Against Mexico

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s decision granting the United Mexican States’ request to clarify the rate of pre- and post-award interest that it intended to apply to a $37.1 million damages award in favor of an American phosphate exploration company for breaches of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

  • January 24, 2025

    Kazakhstan, Moldovans Dismiss Long-Running Arbitral Feud After Reaching Settlement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Kazakhstan on Jan. 24 filed a joint stipulation with two Moldovan investors and their companies dismissing a decade-old lawsuit over the enforcement of an oil dispute arbitration award worth more than $500 million that Kazakhstan had contended was tainted by fraud after the parties reached a settlement, and also filed for dismissal of a related countersuit.

  • January 24, 2025

    Sierra Leone Must Face $8.1M Attorney Fees Claim For Unpaid Arbitration Bill

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied the Republic of Sierra Leone’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by a law firm that represented it in two international arbitration disputes against a mining company and which says the African nation never paid invoices for approximately $8.1 million in attorney fees.

  • January 23, 2025

    United States Moves To Argue Against 9th Circuit’s FSIA Precedent Before High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States on Jan. 22 filed a motion to the U.S. Supreme Court for leave to participate in upcoming oral arguments regarding whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly reversed a $1.3 billion arbitral award in favor of an Indian company, its shareholders and subsidiary on jurisdictional grounds, which the United States says has “significant foreign-relations implications.”

  • January 23, 2025

    ICSID Committee Denies Venezuela Application To Annul $8.5B Award In Oil Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ad hoc committee on Jan. 22 dismissed in full the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s challenges to an $8.5 billion award issued against it for expropriating the investments of three Dutch oil companies and ordered it to pay nearly $8 million in attorney fees and arbitration costs.

  • January 22, 2025

    Judge Vacates Order Compelling Arbitration Of $7M Hurricane Claim

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge, citing new Louisiana Supreme Court precedent on the arbitrability of insurance claims, granted a motion filed by two New Orleans property owners’ to vacate an order compelling arbitration of their claims for $7 million in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith against a group of foreign and domestic insurers, a ruling that was previously upheld by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • January 17, 2025

    Bid To Pursue Resolution With Vesttoo Affiliate In Israel Draws Opposition

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Israeli investors’ request for a Delaware federal bankruptcy court to grant relief from the injunction in the Chapter 11 liquidation of Vesttoo Ltd. and dozens of affiliates so they can pursue arbitration and/or liquidation proceedings in Israel has drawn objections that the investors argue should be rejected.

  • January 15, 2025

    Judge Rejects Contractor’s Bid For Vacatur, Confirms Nearly $1B Refinery Award

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied two construction companies’ petition for vacatur of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral award against them worth nearly $1 billion for a long-running construction dispute and granted the cross-petition to confirm the award in favor of a Republic of Colombia-owned oil refinery after finding no grounds for vacatur applied.

  • January 13, 2025

    Court Stays 26.5M Euro Award Action Against Spain Pending High Court Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted the Kingdom of Spain’s request to stay an action to enforce an arbitral award against it in favor of a European Union investor for violation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) pending the outcome of Spain’s planned petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding of jurisdiction over it.

  • January 10, 2025

    Judge Stays Bid To Enforce $50M ECT Award Against Poland Pending Swedish Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted the Republic of Poland’s motion to stay a Cypriot energy investor’s petition to enforce an arbitral award against it worth more than $50 million issued pursuant to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), finding that “judicial efficiency” favors a stay while Poland’s appeal of the award in Sweden remains pending.

  • January 09, 2025

    Canadian Company Says Tribunal’s Jurisdiction Over NAFTA Pipeline Claim Is Proper

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a Canadian province-owned oil company’s countermemorial opposing the United States’ bifurcated objections to the tribunal’s jurisdiction over a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim for $1.5 billion Canadian in damages caused by the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the Canadian company says is not time-barred.

  • January 07, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Compels Arbitration Of Mexican Luxury Homes Dispute

    NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge stayed litigation involving a Mexican luxury community developer’s defamation claims against homebuyers who publicly labeled the project “a Ponzi scheme” and one homebuyer’s counterclaims for fraud and granted motions to compel arbitration of the bulk of claims, finding that the home contracts contained “broad” arbitration clauses.