Mealey's International Arbitration
-
May 30, 2024
Award Terminating Subway Sandwich Shop’s Franchise Contract With Russia Confirmed
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on May 29 confirmed an arbitral award issued after remand in favor of sandwich shop franchise operator Subway International B.V. (SIBV), holding that a franchisor that operated Subway shops in Russia cannot renew its franchise license and that the parties’ agreement was effectively terminated in 2020.
-
May 24, 2024
Colombian Oil Company Bound By VAT Payment Award, Judge Says
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on May 24 granted a Colombian oil company’s petition to confirm in part an arbitral award resolving its dispute with an American company over a stock purchase agreement but refused the Colombian petitioner’s request to vacate the portion of the award imposing on it the burden for value-added tax (VAT) payments due from an asset exchanged in the original agreement, which it later sold to a nonparty.
-
May 24, 2024
Tribunal Dismisses Objections To Company’s $10B Claim Over Rights To Shipwreck
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) published a tribunal’s decision dismissing the Republic of Colombia’s objections to an American diving company’s claims against it for more than $10 billion in relation to its loss of rights to a Spanish galleon carrying treasure which sunk in 1708, finding that the company sufficiently pleaded that it is a protected investor and that its claims are within the applicable time limitations.
-
May 24, 2024
Judge Confirms Finnish Award Worth $900K For Hockey Player Contract Dispute
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A New York federal judge confirmed a Finland Arbitration Institute (FAI) award worth approximately $900,000 to a hockey player agency after the award-debtor failed to appear in court and asked the agency to file an updated proposed judgment with greater detail regarding its calculation of costs.
-
May 24, 2024
COMMENTARY: Interview: JAMS Arbitrator Dr. Anton G. Maurer Discusses Past, Future Of International Dispute Resolution
Copyright © 2024, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.
-
May 20, 2024
COMMENTARY: Interview: JAMS Arbitrator Patricia H. Thompson Shares Procedural, Problem-Solving Benefits Of Arbitration
Copyright © 2024, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.
-
May 14, 2024
COMMENTARY: Comparison Of Third-Party Discovery In Domestic And International Arbitration
By Jessica Sabbath and Lisa Richman
-
May 23, 2024
Panel Affirms Summary Judgment In Solar Panel Dispute Despite Arbitration
SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate panel affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on a breach of contract dispute despite a then-pending International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration between the parties, finding that the loan contracts before the court were separate from the solar panel supply agreement providing for ICC arbitration.
-
May 21, 2024
Tribunal Rectifies Costs And Interests Against Peru In $110.7M Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s decision on rectification of an earlier award ordering the Republic of Peru to pay two investors more than $110.7 million, granting Peru’s requests to clarify the award as to apportionment of costs and the interest rate accruing on damages against Peru.
-
May 17, 2024
Canadian Oil Company Tells ICSID U.S. ‘Destroyed’ It By Canceling Pipeline
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on May 16 published a memorial on the merits filed by an oil company owned by the Canadian province of Alberta, which is seeking more than $1.5 billion Canadian dollars from the United States for violating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by canceling a pipeline project.
-
May 16, 2024
U.S. High Court: With Request, Arbitrable Dispute Must Be Stayed, Not Dismissed
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A case involving an arbitrable dispute must be stayed and not dismissed pending arbitration where a party has requested a stay, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 16 in a case brought by delivery drivers against the individual owners and managers of Intelliserve and related corporate entities (together, Intelliserve).
-
May 15, 2024
Chevron Asks 9th Circuit To Dismiss Saudi Heirs’ Appeal Of $268,000 Sanction
SAN FRANCISCO — Chevron Corp. and Chevron U.S.A. (collectively, Chevron) filed motions in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking summary disposition of an attorney’s appeal of a $268,000 sanction against him and asking the court to stay deadlines pending a decision on the motion, writing that the lawyer raises no valid arguments challenging the sanctions ordered against him for filing a fake news article during an appeal over an $18 billion award.
-
May 15, 2024
D.C. Circuit Rejects Romania’s Challenge To $350M ICSID Award Based On EU Rulings
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 14 affirmed a federal judge’s denial of the government of Romania’s motion for relief from judgment ordering them to pay Swedish investors and their companies more than $350 million, writing that the court was not deprived of jurisdiction based on rulings from the European Union’s highest court deeming the underlying arbitral award invalid.
-
May 14, 2024
AI Investor Seeks To Enforce $25M Hong Kong Award In Shareholders’ Dispute
NEW YORK — A Cayman Islands investor in artificial intelligence (AI) companies filed a petition in New York federal court seeking to confirm a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) award against certain Chinese entities and citizens and one Cayman Islands entity worth $25 million, which the plaintiff says the defendants are required to pay after breaching a settlement.
-
May 14, 2024
Judge Orders Discovery In Bid To Enforce $1.5M Award Against Bankrupt German CEO
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge refused to dismiss a video game streaming platform’s petition to confirm a JAMS award worth nearly $1.5 million against two German entities and their shareholder, the former CEO of the original award-debtor, and ordered further jurisdictional discovery to determine whether the court can exercise jurisdiction over the German defendants.
-
May 13, 2024
2nd Circuit Dismisses Arbitrator Bias Appeal As Moot After Award Is Made
NEW YORK — After being informed that an arbitration award issued the day before oral argument was scheduled to occur mooted the appeal, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel had the parties appear for a brief discussion and then on May 10 dismissed the case, also ordering that the lower court’s ruling be vacated.
-
May 13, 2024
High Court Urged To Review Minimum Contacts Rule In $1.3B Indian Award Row
WASHINGTON D.C. — Four entities affiliated with a liquidated Indian satellite company that won an arbitral award worth $1.3 billion urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari to resolve a circuit conflict over the applicability of minimum contacts analysis to jurisdiction over a foreign entity, writing that Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ precedent on the issue conflicts with four other circuits.
-
May 10, 2024
ICSID Declines To Suspend Gas Investor’s $1B NAFTA Claim Pending USMCA Rulings
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on May 9 published a tribunal’s order denying Canada’s request that it suspend a U.S. liquid natural gas (LNG) investor’s claims for $1 billion in damages under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) pending a separate tribunal’s decision on the applicability of the United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) during a transition period between the treaties.
-
May 08, 2024
ICSID Publishes 61M Euro Award Against Bulgaria For Energy Contract Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on May 7 published a tribunal’s award against the Republic of Bulgaria for more than 61 million euros after finding that it breached the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and harmed a Maltese solar power investor by reducing incentives for solar investment upon which the investor had relied.
-
May 07, 2024
ICSID Publishes Split Tribunal’s Award Rejecting $3.3B Claim Against Romania
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on May 6 published a split tribunal’s award rejecting Canadian and British investors’ claims against Romania for harming their investment in gold and silver mining by denying them environmental permits that were needed to open the mine and instead moving to preserve the mine as a cultural heritage site and ordered the investors to pay Romania more than $10 million in attorney fees and arbitration costs.
-
May 06, 2024
Swiss Company Urges D.C. Circuit To Uphold $13M Award Against Equatorial Guinea
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Swiss hospital management company on May 3 filed an appellee brief to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals urging it to reject arguments by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (EG) that a $13 million award for breach of contract was improper and should have been litigated in local courts, writing that the parties agreed to delegate arbitrability to the tribunal.
-
May 06, 2024
Judge Denies Dismissal To Insolvent Insurer’s Owners, Cites ‘Perfunctory Argument’
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge denied a motion filed by the owners of an insolvent insurer seeking to dismiss a petition to confirm an arbitration award for a Dutch insurer in liquidation, finding that the owners’ new argument on appeal that the award is prohibited as a monetary penalty fails because “it is not the court’s job to undertake the analysis and legal research needed to support a perfunctory argument.”
-
May 03, 2024
D.C. Circuit Urged To Defer To Dutch Rulings Upholding $57B Awards Against Russia
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The former majority shareholders of Yukos Oil Co. filed an appellee brief arguing that the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should disregard the Russian Federation’s arguments for reversal of the confirmation of arbitral awards against it worth more than $57 billion for lack of jurisdiction, writing that Dutch courts with primary jurisdiction have already upheld the award.
-
May 02, 2024
Judge Confirms $300K Cashew Arbitral Award Against African Company
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted a California company’s petition to confirm an arbitral award in its favor worth nearly $300,000 for a dispute over the nondelivery of a cashew shipment after the African company against whom the award was issued failed to appear in court.
-
May 02, 2024
Judge Won’t Reconsider Confirming Sanctions Award In Telecommunications Row
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on May 1 denied a motion for reconsideration of his ruling confirming a partial final award against the majority shareholders of a Latin American telecommunications company that are engaged in a dispute over minority shareholders seeking to force a sale of the company, writing that “It is long since time” the majority shareholders “recognize that they have lost.”