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

Mealey's International Arbitration

May 19, 2023
3rd Circuit Denies Emergency Motion To Lift Stay On $2.7B Awards Against Venezuela

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an emergency motion by six award-creditors to reconsider the court’s temporary administrative stay on enforcement of judgments in their favor collectively worth more than $2.7 billion against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), as the creditors seek to join a planned auction of PDVSA’s assets in Delaware federal court.
May 18, 2023
ICSID Finds No Error In Tribunal’s 22M Euro Wind Energy Award Against Spain

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 more than 22 million euro arbitral award against it for breaching the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) by rescinding legislative incentives that a German renewable energy investor relied on and ordered Spain to pay more than $331,000 in costs and more than 310,000 euros to cover the investor’s attorney fees.
May 18, 2023
Judge Compels Arbitration Of Thai Company’s Claims In COVID Gloves Sales Dispute

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted a Los Angeles-based company’s owner’s motion to compel arbitration in Singapore of claims brought against him by a Thai nitrile gloves manufacturer for failure to pay $4.7 million for gloves the Thai company manufactured and delivered to his company during the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 16, 2023
Judge Rejects Venezuela’s Due Process Challenge To $440M ICSID Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on May 15 adopted in full a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and confirmed an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth more than $440 million against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in favor of two Spanish entities whose investments in Venezuelan food companies were expropriated, rejecting Venezuela’s argument that its due process rights were violated.
May 16, 2023
Amendment, Judgment Sought In Suit Over Coverage Of Sexual Abuse Case Settlements

SEATTLE —A foreign reinsurer on May 15 filed an opposition to an interlocal cooperative’s bid for leave to add allegations in a declaratory judgment case over reimbursement for defense and settlement of suits alleging sexual abuse; instead, the foreign reinsurer asks a Washington state federal court to render judgment on the pleadings.
May 16, 2023
2nd Circuit Affirms Spanish Insurer’s Maritime Award Against Nonsignatory

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the confirmation of an arbitral award worth more than 545,000 euros and 100,000 British pounds in favor of a Spanish insurer against a New York shipper, writing that while the shipper did not sign the underlying contract, it was still required to arbitrate under English law and was found liable by a London maritime tribunal.
May 16, 2023
ICSID Bifurcates Pipeline Owners’ $15B Claims Against U.S. For Canceled Permits

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s order granting the United States’ request for bifurcation of its objection that two Canadian pipeline companies can’t bring a claim against it for breaching the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) based on the termination of their license to operate a cross-border pipeline, which occurred after NAFTA expired.
May 10, 2023
Mauritian Award-Creditors In Indian Satellite Fight Were Seized, 9th Circuit Told

SAN FRANCISCO — Three Delaware-based companies moved to intervene in two appeals before the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on behalf of their subsidiaries, three Mauritian shareholders seeking to enforce a $1.3 billion judgment against an Indian state-owned company for an arbitral dispute, writing that the shareholders were judicially seized in Mauritius.
May 09, 2023
3rd Circuit Stays Enforcement Actions Worth $2.7B Against Venezuela

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a temporary administrative stay of six enforcement actions pending in Delaware federal court, all brought by arbitral award-creditors against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), and expedited PDVSA’s appeal challenging the District Court’s ruling permitting the creditors to seek attachment of its assets at a planned auction.
May 09, 2023
Hydropower Investors Drop ICSID Claim Against Costa Rica

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal issued an order taking note of the discontinuance of an arbitral proceeding brought by Chilean and Costa Rican hydropower energy investors against the Republic of Costa Rica, weeks after the nation announced that it had entered into new electricity supply contracts with the investors.
May 08, 2023
Magistrate Judge Compels Discovery From Israeli Investor In $2.3M Award Row

NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge on May 5 granted the Republic of Guatemala’s motion to compel discovery from an Israel energy investor against which default judgment was previously entered confirming a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) award for arbitration costs and attorney fees now worth more than $2.3 million, writing that sanctions could be issued if it fails to comply.
May 05, 2023
Company Tells 2nd Circuit Judge Erred By Quashing Discovery For ICSID Tribunal

NEW YORK — An Italian company in an appellant brief tells the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a judge misapplied recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent in quashing its subpoena seeking discovery for use before an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal, arguing that ICSID tribunals are “imbued” with “governmental authority.”
May 04, 2023
Judge Denies Contempt Motion Against Spain For European Litigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied a renewable energy investor’s motion for contempt and sanctions against the Kingdom of Spain after it suspended, rather than formally withdrawing, its litigation in Luxembourg against the investor to halt its efforts to enforce an intra-EU arbitral award and likewise denied Spain’s motion to stay the litigation pending its appeal of the judge’s ruling finding jurisdiction over Spain.
May 04, 2023
Jurisdictional Questions Posed In 11th Circuit Appeal Of Arbitration Order

ATLANTA — Reinsurers and retrocessionaires are challenging a decision ordering arbitration in their litigation over an alleged $28 million in damages to an Algerian power plant, and the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has posed two questions, saying it might “lack jurisdiction over this appeal.”
May 02, 2023
Judge Rules On Choice Of Law In Google’s Arbitrability Dispute With Nonsignatories

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 1 ruled that the court will apply federal substantive law to deciding in the first instance whether two British Virgin Islands (BVI) nonsignatories are bound to arbitrate claims brought against their subsidiary by Google’s Asian division for more than $120 million in unpaid advertising invoices.
May 01, 2023
Special Master Recommends Launching Venezuela Auction, Citing U.S. Approval

WILMINGTON, Del. — The special master appointed to plan an auction of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s oil holdings to compensate arbitral award-creditors for billions in damages filed a supplemental report and recommendation on April 28 in Delaware federal court stating that the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has indicated that it intends a “favorable” policy toward creditors seeking licenses to begin buying Venezuela’s interests in CITGO Petroleum Corp. at auction despite current U.S. sanctions against Venezuela.
May 01, 2023
5th Circuit To Review Challenge To Arbitrability Of $7M Hurricane Ida Claims

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal has granted an unopposed request to review a federal court’s ruling compelling arbitration of a dispute over an insured’s claims for millions of dollars in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith against its foreign and domestic insurers, after the insured and insurers both stated that the arbitrability of such claims is the subject of a “split among the Louisiana federal district courts.”
April 26, 2023
Insurer Dismisses Suit Seeking To Compel Arbitration Over Reinsurance Security

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Noting that the plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice, a Connecticut federal judge on April 25 ordered closure of the suit that sought to compel arbitration over an alleged $22,738,571 deficiency in required security for reinsurance agreements.
April 25, 2023
High Court Questions Why Russian Can’t Claim RICO To Enforce $92M Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 25 questioned a Russian residing in California and a Monaco bank during oral arguments why a foreign creditor would lack standing to bring a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claim against them for nonpayment of a $92 million arbitral award, with the justices asking why a RICO injury should only be considered felt at the victim’s domicile, rather than the location of the alleged wrongdoing.
April 25, 2023
Judge Denies Djibouti’s Motion To Stay $541M Judgment Pending Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on April 24 denied the Republic of Djibouti’s motion to stay execution of a $541 million judgment against it confirming two London Court of International Arbitration awards for a container terminal dispute pending its appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and ordered that execution will be stayed only if Djibouti posts a supersedeas bond.
April 25, 2023
PPE Distributor Appeals Denial Of Arbitration In $8M Gloves Dispute To 8th Circuit

ST. LOUIS — A U.S. wholesale distributor of personal protective equipment (PPE) has appealed to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Missouri federal court’s ruling denying its motion to compel arbitration in Hong Kong with a Chinese manufacturer for a dispute over more than $8 million worth of unpaid invoices for nitrile gloves delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
April 24, 2023
ICSID Declines Cost Award After Investors End Claim Against Netherlands

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal formally took note of the discontinuance of three energy investors’ arbitral claims against the Kingdom of the Netherlands for harming their investments by issuing a 2020 order banning the usage of coal for production of electricity and dismissed the Netherlands’ request for a costs award against the investors.
April 24, 2023
Spain Urges Federal Judge Not To Bar European Litigation Against Award-Creditor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain in an opposition brief filed in a District of Columbia federal court says the court should not enjoin it from suing European investors in a Luxembourg courts to stop their efforts to enforce an arbitral award worth more than 35 million euros in the United States, writing that the litigation concerns questions of European Union and Luxembourgish law “over which this Court plainly lacks any jurisdiction.”
April 24, 2023
Judge Confirms Award For Shaq’s Failure To Attend Polish Independence Party

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on April 21 confirmed an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral award against an athletics marketing company and its owner for violating an agreement with a Polish organization to bring Shaquille O’Neal to Warsaw for celebrations of Poland’s 100th anniversary of independence, finding the award properly issued despite O’Neal’s representatives’ claim that the Polish organization agreed to forfeit a $149,000 deposit.
April 03, 2023
COMMENTARY: Functus Officio: An Exception For Reasoned Arbitration Awards?

By Robert M. Hall