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

Mealey's International Arbitration

March 20, 2023
Arbitration Ordered In Power Plant Dispute Under Third-Party Beneficiary Doctrine

ATLANTA — Applying the third-party beneficiary doctrine, a Georgia federal judge on March 17 ordered arbitration of a dispute in which reinsurers and retrocessionaires as subrogees of the owner of an Algerian power plant seek no less than $28 million in damages against General Electric International Inc. (GE International) and related entities in relation to an October 2019 incident.
March 20, 2023
Korean Solar Panel Maker Accuses Calif. Companies Of UCL, Trade Secrets Violations

SAN FRANCISCO — A Korean solar panel manufacturer filed suit in California federal court accusing two California-based solar panel companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and defamation, arguing that the court has jurisdiction despite a pending arbitration between the parties in Singapore because it says the California companies “initiated the Arbitration . . . to achieve the conspiratorial goal” of misappropriating its trade secrets for advanced solar technology and replacing it with cheaper suppliers.
March 17, 2023
Judge Enforces More Than $412M Award Against Ecuador For Oil Contract Cancellation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on March 16 confirmed an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth more than $412 million in favor of a French-owned, Bahamanian oil company against the Republic of Ecuador for the cancellation of oil contracts in the Amazon region and denied Ecuador’s request to set off the award by more than $70 million in alleged tax liability.
March 15, 2023
Peruvian City Says Tribunal Ignored Corruption In Toll Road Contract Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The government of the Peruvian city of Lima on March 14 filed a petition to vacate the second arbitral award issued against it for alleged misconduct by the arbitrators, writing that the tribunal refused to consider new evidence of corruption in the underlying dispute over a toll road contract but then issued an award against the city for failing to prove its corruption claims.
March 15, 2023
Investors Seek To Enforce $100M Award Against Peru For Devalued Land Bonds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two U.S. investment entities on March 14 filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court to confirm an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award in their favor worth more than $100 million against the Republic of Peru for arbitrarily devaluing the entities’ land bonds, which were first issued in 1969 as compensation for agrarian lands seized by the government.
March 15, 2023
Mexican, Bolivian Companies Settle Suit Over $37M Arbitral Award In Cement Dispute

DENVER — Two Mexican companies and a Bolivian company recently filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals stating that the parties have resolved their dispute over the confirmation of an arbitral award against the Mexican companies worth more than $37 million that was set aside by Bolivia’s highest court.
March 14, 2023
Tribunal Rejects Investors’ $198M Claim Against Nicaragua For Oil Block Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral tribunal rejected all claims brought by a group of U.S. investors against the Republic of Nicaragua for the alleged expropriation of their investment in an oil exploration venture that failed to find significant deposits of oil and ordered the claimants to pay Nicaragua $1.5 million to partially reimburse its attorney fees and costs.
March 09, 2023
Cosmetics Trade Secrets Dispute Must Be Arbitrated In Belgium, Judge Says

FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal judge on March 8 granted a motion by two U.S. subsidiaries of a Swiss pharmaceutical company to dismiss a trade secrets lawsuit brought against them by a U.K. company based on forum non conveniens, finding that a dispute over whether the subsidiaries improperly sought Food and Drug Administration approval for a cosmetic product must be resolved by arbitration in Switzerland.
March 09, 2023
Iraqi Companies, Owner Can Obtain Discovery From Firm For Arbitration, Judge Says

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge on March 8 granted motions to intervene and obtain discovery from a law firm filed by two Iraqi companies and their owner, who are accused in a pending international arbitration of defrauding an investor of $800 million, finding the movants entitled to the same discovery that was previously issued to the investor and declining to retroactively apply recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent on discovery for foreign tribunals.
March 08, 2023
Djibouti Moves To Stay Judgment Pending Appeal Of $541M Arbitral Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Djibouti recently moved in a District of Columbia federal court to stay judgment and post-judgment enforcement proceedings after the court’s recent ruling granting a Djibouti-based joint venture’s petition to confirm two London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) awards worth more than $541 million for a dispute over control of a container ship terminal on the Red Sea pending the outcome of Djibouti’s appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
March 08, 2023
Arbitrator Replacement Bid In Reinsurance Row Is Removed To Federal Court

NEW YORK — A lawsuit seeking replacement of an arbitrator in a proceeding concerning two reinsurance contracts between Bermuda-based entities has been removed to a federal court in New York.
March 07, 2023
Zimbabwe Again Seeks To Dismiss Plantation Owners’ Bid To Enforce $263M Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Zimbabwe on March 6 filed in District of Columbia federal court a new motion to dismiss a petition filed by a group of plantation owners seeking to confirm arbitral awards against it worth more than $263 million for the expropriation of their property, writing that as the petition was previously dismissed for improper service, it “reiterates and maintains” its previous arguments that were not resolved on the merits including that the court lacks jurisdiction and that enforcement must be litigated in Zimbabwe.
March 06, 2023
Owners Of Canceled Pipelines Oppose Bifurcation Of $15B Claims Against USA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 3 published a tribunal’s order setting rules on confidentiality for a dispute between the United States and two Canadian pipeline companies, a day after publishing the companies’ memorial opposing the United States’ request for bifurcation of claims for $15 billion in damages for the termination of their license to operate a cross-border pipeline.
March 02, 2023
Kazakhstan Says New Evidence Proves $500M Arbitral Award Was Based On Fraud

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Kazakhstan on March 1 filed a new action in District of Columbia federal court against two Moldovan investors and their companies for relief from the court’s prior judgment confirming an arbitral award worth more than $500 million against Kazakhstan, arguing that evidence of fraud in the arbitration obtained post-judgment has led courts in other nations to deem the award unenforceable and in one nation to issue criminal indictments against the investors.
March 01, 2023
Russian Award-Creditor Can’t Sue Under RICO For Unpaid $92M Award, High Court Told

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Russian award-debtor residing in California and a Monaco bank tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a joint merits brief that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly approved a Russian citizen’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit against them for evading enforcement of a $92 million arbitral award, writing that the Ninth Circuit deepened a circuit split and that Congress didn’t intend for RICO to “turbocharge” award enforcement proceedings.
March 01, 2023
Luxembourg Company Seeks To Enforce $48.1M Euro Award Against Spain

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Luxembourg entity as assignee of award rights from four European investors recently petitioned in District of Columbia federal court to enforce an arbitral award against the Kingdom of Spain worth more than 48.1 million euros for harming the assignors’ investments in renewable energy by rolling back legislative investment incentives.
February 27, 2023
Canada Not Liable For Revocation Of River Fracking Permit, Tribunal Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has published a split tribunal’s award rejecting a U.S. hydraulic fracturing company’s claim for more than $103.6 million against the government of Canada for allegedly breaching the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by revoking its permit to explore and frack oil deposits under the St. Lawrence River.
February 27, 2023
Split Tribunal Rejects Singaporean Miners’ Claims Against China

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split arbitral tribunal in a recently published award rejected two Singaporean entities’ claims against the People’s Republic of China for expropriating their investment in phosphate and barite mining by closing their mines to set up a giant panda natural reserve, finding that it lacked jurisdiction over claims regarding whether China had expropriated their investment and could decide only the amount of compensation due.
February 24, 2023
Chinese Company’s Petition To Confirm $70M Award Stayed Pending Nigeria’s Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge entered a minute order staying proceedings pending the outcome of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the court’s ruling denying its motion to dismiss a Chinese company’s petition to confirm an arbitral award worth nearly $70 million.
February 24, 2023
Spain Urges Court To Dismiss German Investor’s Petition To Confirm 22M Euro Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain argues in a District of Columbia federal court brief in support of its motion to dismiss a German energy investor’s petition to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award worth more than 22 million euros that the investor has sued it in the United States only to avoid European Union law prohibiting enforcement of the award and that recent rulings in the district court allowing such petitions to proceed are incorrect.
February 24, 2023
Mexican Cement Companies Plan To Petition High Court In $37M Arbitral Award Fight

DENVER — Two Mexican companies on Feb. 23 filed a motion in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals asking the court to stay its mandate pending the outcome of their planned petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, after the 10th Circuit denied their petition for panel or en banc rehearing of a challenge to the confirmation of an arbitral award against them worth more than $37 million that was set aside by Bolivia’s highest court.
February 24, 2023
En Banc 11th Circuit Mulls Law Applicable To $7M Award In Guatemalan Dispute

ATLANTA — The en banc 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals appeared skeptical during oral arguments of a Guatemalan business’s position that, contrary to other circuit courts, it should not allow domestic grounds for vacatur under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to apply to an action to vacate a $7 million arbitral award issued by a Miami-seated tribunal for a canceled Guatemalan hydroelectric dam project.
February 23, 2023
India Urges Judge To Leave $111M Award Fight Stayed Pending 2nd Dutch Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of India urges a District of Columbia federal judge to disregard arguments by shareholders in an Indian telecommunications company that the court should lift its stay on the shareholders’ petition to confirm arbitral awards worth more than $111 million after the Dutch Supreme Court rejected India’s first appeal, arguing that the case should remain stayed while its second appeal is pending.
February 23, 2023
D.C. Circuit Affirms $1.5M Sanctions Award Against Romania For Discovery Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a federal court’s imposition of $1.5 million in sanctions against the government of Romania for failure to comply with discovery orders issued in relation to post-judgment enforcement of an arbitral award it was ordered to pay to Swedish investors and their companies worth more than $356 million, rejecting all of Romania’s arguments challenging the propriety of sanctions.