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Mealey's International Arbitration

  • November 08, 2024

    Tribunal Grants Mexico’s Request To Bifurcate Parking Meter NAFTA Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s decision to bifurcate a U.S. metered parking system investor’s claim accusing the United Mexican States of violating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) so that the tribunal can first address Mexico’s objections to its jurisdiction.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge Enters $13.7M Judgment Against Romania For Sanctions Accrued In Tax Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Nov. 7 granted in part a group of Swedish investors’ motion for entry of a second judgment on accrued sanctions against the government of Romania for failures to comply with discovery as the investors seek to enforce a confirmed $350 million International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award against Romania, but reduced the investors’ request by more than $2 million.

  • November 07, 2024

    Tribunal Won’t Disqualify Arbitrator Over Views On 3rd Party Funding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 6 published a tribunal’s decision denying a mining company’s request to disqualify the United Mexican States’ arbitrator from hearing its claim for more than $362.7 million in damages, which it sought based on his statements criticizing third-party funding of international arbitration claims as potentially creating a “‘gambler’s Nirvana.’”

  • November 07, 2024

    Guatemalan Dam Contractor Urges 11th Circuit To Rehear $7M Award Row

    ATLANTA — A Guatemalan contractor on Nov. 6 petitioned the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for panel and en banc rehearing of its appeal of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award worth more than $7 million over payments for a hydroelectric dam project, arguing that the panel improperly affirmed despite evidence of corruption and the award’s order of specific performance that it says is “impossible.”

  • November 06, 2024

    Tribunal: Surveyors’ NAFTA Claim Against Canada May Proceed After Claimant Dies

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s order finding that in view of Texas probate proceedings, a geological survey company founded by a claimant who died and his sons may carry on a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) arbitration claim against Canada for 500 million Canadian dollars brought by their father.

  • November 05, 2024

    9th Circuit Won’t Reconsider Sanction Of Saudi Heirs’ Lawyer For Fake News Article

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a motion for reconsideration of its prior ruling granting summary affirmance of a $268,000 sanction issued against an attorney for the heirs of Saudi sheikhs for filing a fake news article during his ultimately unsuccessful appeal of a court’s refusal to confirm a controversial $18 billion award.

  • November 05, 2024

    Turkish Hotel Company, Kyrgyz Republic Settle Decades-Old Hotel Dispute

    NEW YORK — A Turkish hotel investor filed notice in New York court that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Kyrgyz Republic resolving a long-running dispute over the expropriation of the investor’s interests in a hotel and moved the court to suspend accrual of civil contempt sanctions for which judgment was previously entered for nearly $11 million, on top of a previously confirmed $11.6 million arbitral award.

  • October 31, 2024

    Judge Partly Compels Arbitration Of Semiconductor Dispute In Singapore

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge partly granted a motion to dismiss a lawsuit over a semiconductor business dispute for improper venue, compelled arbitration of claims against certain defendants before the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) pursuant to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) and stayed the other claims pending arbitration.

  • October 30, 2024

    Arbitration Bid Fought In Reinsurance Billing Row Involving MOU

    LOS ANGELES — Urging a California federal court to reject an arbitration bid in a lawsuit over reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims, an insurer contends that the abstention doctrine doesn’t apply and that the arbitration clause is in a different agreement than the one at issue and doesn’t include the present billing dispute.

  • October 29, 2024

    Statements On Ukraine Don’t Require Arbitrator’s Disqualification, ICSID Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s decision rejecting a Luxembourgian investor’s request to disqualify the arbitrator appointed by Ukraine from hearing its $1 billion claim against Ukraine for expropriating its investment, finding that the arbitrator’s expressed views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict do not render him incapable of independence and impartiality.

  • October 29, 2024

    D.C. Circuit Won’t Rehear Reversal Of $541M Award For Lack Of Attorney Authority

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 28 denied a terminal operator’s petition for panel or en banc rehearing of a split panel’s ruling reversing the confirmation of a more than $541 million award in its favor against the Republic of Djibouti, which the panel said was improperly confirmed without confirming if the operator’s attorneys had legal authority to represent it.

  • October 28, 2024

    La. Supreme Court Says 5th Circuit Wrong On Arbitrability Of Insurance Disputes

    NEW ORLEANS — Addressing questions of law certified to it regarding state law and arbitration agreements embodied in insurance policies, the Louisiana Supreme Court on Oct. 25 ruled that state law prohibits arbitration of insurance disputes, directly contradicting the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ “flawed” findings in two cases involving hurricane insurance claims against foreign and domestic insurers.

  • October 24, 2024

    Mexican Debt Investors Say ICSID’s Jurisdiction Over $219M NAFTA Claim Is Proper

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published two American entities’ counter-memorial on jurisdiction urging the tribunal to reject the United Mexican States’ arguments for dismissal of their claims relating to debts securities they owned worth more than $219 million, arguing that they followed all the procedural requirements set forth in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

  • October 22, 2024

    Investors Urges 3rd Circuit To Rehear 60M Euro Moroccan Hotel Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — A joint venture and its partner petitioned the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for panel or en banc rehearing in a dispute with a hotel owner seeking to enforce an arbitral award against them for more than 60 million euros, asserting that the split panel’s reversal of a lower court’s grant of summary judgment improperly applied alter ego standards to the suit.

  • October 21, 2024

    Reinsurers Move To Compel Arbitration In Billings Dispute Involving MOU

    LOS ANGELES — Arguing that a dispute over reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims falls within the scope of the “broad” arbitration agreement in the excess of loss reinsurance treaty at issue, reinsurers in an Oct. 18 motion ask a California federal court to compel arbitration and dismiss or stay the case.

  • October 21, 2024

    Split Tribunal Rejects Argentina’s Request To Bifurcate $49M Property Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a split tribunal’s denial of the Argentine Republic request for bifurcation of a U.S. entity’s claims against for the nonexecution of deeds for land outside Buenos Aires the entity paid $49 million for, with one arbitrator dissenting and writing that the tribunal should have bifurcated Argentina’s objection regarding whether the investor’s nationality entitled it to treaty protections.

  • October 21, 2024

    ICSID Tribunal Rejects Internet Services Investors’ $350M Contract Claim

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal rejected on the merits all claims brought against the Republic of Colombia by an internet services investor that claimed that Colombia caused it more than $350 million in damages by refusing to extend a contract for domain services and separately rejected its request to transfer the claim to a new corporate entity.

  • October 18, 2024

    COMMENTARY: Interview: Antonia Birt And Rebeca Mosquera Of Reed Smith Discuss Using AI To Improve The Efficiency Of International Arbitrations

    Copyright © 2024, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.

  • October 14, 2024

    COMMENTARY: International Arbitration Experts Discuss The ICSID Arbitration Rules And The Disclosure Of Third-Party Funders Information

    [Editor’s Note: Copyright © 2024, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.]

  • October 02, 2024

    COMMENTARY: Who Determines When Correcting Computational Errors In An Arbitral Award Becomes A Reconsideration Of The Merits?

    By William W. Russell

  • October 18, 2024

    Judge Finds Jurisdiction Over Nicaragua’s Bid To Enforce $1.5M Fee Award

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion filed by trustees of a family trust to dismiss a petition filed against them by the Republic of Nicaragua seeking to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award for more than $1.5 million in attorney fees with compound interest, which it won in 2023 after prevailing in an oil investment arbitration brought by the trust and its co-claimants.

  • October 17, 2024

    EU Investors Say D.C. Circuit Properly Found Jurisdiction Over Spain

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three renewable energy investors on Oct. 16 filed briefs to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opposing the Kingdom of Spain’s petition for en banc rehearing in consolidated appeals regarding federal jurisdiction over the investors’ petitions to confirm intra-European Union arbitral awards worth approximately 358 million euros, arguing that the panel’s ruling was correct and that Spain seeks “further delay.”

  • October 17, 2024

    11th Circuit Affirms $7M Award In Guatemalan Hydroelectric Dam Dispute

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 16 affirmed an International Chamber of Commerce award worth more than $7 million in a Guatemalan hydroelectric dam dispute, rejecting arguments by the award-debtor that the tribunal exceeded its authority by ordering it to maintain existing bonds or purchase new ones and by rejecting its argument that the other party engaged in bribery.

  • October 07, 2024

    High Court Won’t Review FAA Service Rules In Mexican Film Award Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Mexican film distributor seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion rejecting its arguments, involving multiple questions of first impression, that as a nonresident of the United States, it was not properly served under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) before being ordered to pay an arbitral award worth more than $536,000.

  • October 04, 2024

    High Court To Review Reversal Of $1.3B Award In Indian Satellite Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 granted and consolidated two petitions for certiorari filed by an Indian satellite company and by its shareholders and subsidiary, all of whom sought review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal on jurisdictional grounds of a $1.3 billion arbitral award in their favor based on circuit precedent regarding the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).