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

Mealey's International Arbitration

April 01, 2024
Vietnamese Tribunal’s $2.4M Award For Sales Contract Dispute Confirmed By Judge

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted a Vietnamese kitchen cabinetry-maker’s unopposed motion to confirm a Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC) arbitral award against a California cabinetry wholesaler worth more than $2.4 million.
March 29, 2024
ICSID Publishes Metal Mining Company’s $82.5M Claim Against Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 28 published a tribunal’s order setting confidentiality and disclosure procedures in a U.S. mining company’s request for arbitration against the United Mexican States on the grounds that Mexico caused it more than $82.5 million in damages by allowing a local mining co-operative to blockade one of its mines.
March 29, 2024
Judge Confirms $136M Award Against India In German Investor’s Favor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge has granted a German entity’s petition to confirm a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) arbitral award against the Republic of India worth nearly $136 million for damages to its investment in an Indian telecommunications company that had its contract abruptly terminated.
March 25, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Panama Canal Contractors’ Arbitrator Bias Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an international group of construction firms that were ordered to pay a $283 million award to the Republic of Panama-owned instrumentality that operates the Panama Canal and that argued that the award was tainted by the arbitrators’ nondisclosures of various professional ties.
March 25, 2024
Judge Confirms $44.3M Hong Kong Award For Chinese Loan Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge confirmed a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) arbitral award worth more than $44.3 million against a California resident for a Shanghai investment dispute, finding that no defenses to enforcement of the award apply.
March 25, 2024
U.K. High Court Violated EU Law By Enforcing Award Against Romania, CJEU Says

LUXEMBOURG CITY, Luxembourg — The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the United Kingdom Supreme Court in 2020 violated the United Kingdom’s then-existing obligations under EU law by ruling that an arbitral award worth 178 million euros in favor of Swedish investors against Romania was enforceable while the same dispute was pending in EU courts.
March 22, 2024
Insureds Urge 5th Circuit To Rehear Arbitration Row In $7M Hurricane Ida Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — Two New Orleans property owners urge the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to grant panel or en banc rehearing of their appeal challenging the arbitrability of their claims for $7 million in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith against a group of foreign and domestic insurers.
March 22, 2024
Jamaican Investor Urges Court To Confirm $43.5M Award For Landfill Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Jamaican landfill investor on March 21 cross-petitioned the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to confirm a $43.5 million arbitral award in his favor and opposed the Dominican Republic’s petition to vacate, arguing that a rectification decision recently issued by the arbitral tribunal underscores the correctness and enforceability of the original award.
March 21, 2024
ICSID Says Qatar Shouldn’t Enforce Death Sentence Against French-Algerian Investor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 20 published a tribunal’s order granting a request for provisional measures filed by a French-Algerian investor who has been sentenced to death in Qatar, in which it says the state should not “harm the life and safety” of the investor “or any of his relatives” and directing the suspension of criminal proceedings against him “pending the conclusion of this arbitration.”
March 21, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms $450M Award Against Chinese Movie Theater Owner

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 20 affirmed denial of reconsideration and entry of judgment for more than $450 million reflecting a confirmed China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) arbitral award against the owner and operator of a Chinese movie theater company, finding the award-debtor was adequately notified and given a chance to participate in the arbitration.
March 21, 2024
Judge Enters Final $198M Judgment Against Lima After Rejecting Corruption Defense

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge entered a final judgment against Lima, Peru, worth more than $198 million in favor of a contractor, days after the judge denied Lima’s petitions to vacate two awards against it in a dispute over a toll road contract and rejected its corruption allegations.
March 20, 2024
Judge Confirms $3.5M Award For Austrian Company After Gabonese Republic Defaults

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge confirmed an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal’s arbitral award worth more than $3.5 million in favor of an Austrian hospital management company against the Gabonese Republic for nonpayment of the Austrian company’s contracts dating back to 2001.
March 20, 2024
Judge Vacates Order Compelling Arbitration Of Saudi Contract Dispute

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge on March 19 granted in part a Connecticut company’s motion for reconsideration and vacated an order compelling arbitration of its contractual dispute with a Florida company over delivery of hazmat supplies to a Saudi Arabian entity, but denied the motion as to the court’s findings of fact in the ruling.
March 19, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Denial Of Arbitration In $9M PPE Dispute With Chinese Company

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Missouri federal court’s ruling denying a motion to compel arbitration filed by a U.S. wholesale distributor of personal protective equipment (PPE) regarding a dispute with a Chinese manufacturer over more than $9 million worth of nitrile gloves the manufacturer delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
March 19, 2024
Judge Finds No Jurisdiction To Enforce $4.3M Award Against Indian Food Company

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied a potato company’s U.S. and India-based affiliates’ petition to confirm a Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) arbitral award worth more than $4.3 million over a dispute with an Indian company arising out of their failed joint venture in Gujarat, India, after finding that the Indian company’s ties to a New Jersey affiliate did not provide the court with jurisdiction to rule on the petition.
March 18, 2024
High Court Defers $392M Award Challenge After Parties Settle Oil Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 18 granted a joint motion to defer consideration of a U.S. oil company’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the affirmance of an award against it worth more than $392 million in favor of an oil investor owned by a Chinese company issued in relation to a $1 billion Ecuadorian oil dispute involving the parties, after the parties jointly moved to defer consideration citing a settlement of their dispute.
March 15, 2024
Judge OKs Arbitral Review Of Esports Players’ $120M Monopoly Claims

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action brought by two professional players of the video game “Call of Duty” (CoD) and one affiliated business entity against developer Activision Blizzard Inc. after the parties filed a stipulation agreeing that an international arbitral tribunal will decide the arbitrability of claims that Activision monopolized CoD-related esports.
March 14, 2024
ICSID Tribunal Dismisses 59 Renewable Energy Investors’ Claims Against Italy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal dismissed all claims for damages against the Italian Republic brought by 59 European entities for allegedly breaching the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) by impairing their energy investments, finding that Italy’s reduction of incentive tariffs based on local governance issues did not breach the ECT.
March 12, 2024
English Justice Issues Ruling In Czech Republic’s Challenge To $350M Plasma Award

LONDON — A justice of the High Court of England Wales issued a ruling barring some objections and dismissing in part challenges the Czech Republic seeks to bring in a forthcoming trial in which it is challenging a May 2022 arbitral award ordering it to pay a Liechtenstein company and its former owner $350 million for harming their investment in a blood plasma company in the early 1990s (Czech Republic v. Diag Human SE, et al., No. CL-2022-000307CA, [2024] EWHC 503 (Comm), England and Wales High, KBD).
March 12, 2024
Split Tribunal Rejects Gold Mining Company’s Claims Against Colombia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 11 published a split tribunal’s award rejecting a Canadian gold mining company’s claims against the Republic of Colombia for allegedly causing it more than $110 million Canadian in damages by abruptly terminating its right to pursue gold mining projects within certain high mountain ecosystems.
March 12, 2024
9th Circuit Won’t Stay Mandate Pending Petition For Cert In $1.3B Award Row

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 11 denied three Mauritian entities and one U.S. company’s joint motion as intervenors to stay the issuance of a mandate reversing the confirmation of an arbitral award worth more than $1.3 billion in favor of a liquidated Indian satellite company, which they sought while they petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari on the issue of Ninth Circuit precedent requiring minimum contacts analysis under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).
March 07, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms Arbitration Order In $7M Hurricane Ida Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 6 affirmed an order compelling arbitration of an insureds’ claims for $7 million in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith against a group of foreign and domestic insurers that had provided it a surplus line policy.
March 05, 2024
Tribunal Rejects Dominican Republic’s Request To Reduce $43.5M Landfill Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal rejected a request by the Dominican Republic to reduce a $43.5 million award in favor of a Jamaican landfill investor down to as low as $5.9 million after finding “no calculation errors” that would warrant rectification of the award and ordered the Dominican Republic to pay an additional $144,000 in attorney fees and costs.
March 05, 2024
5th Circuit: Court Erred In Denying Arbitration In Hurricane Laura Coverage Suit

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined March 4 that a lower federal court abused its discretion when it denied domestic insurers’ motion to compel arbitration and stay a coverage lawsuit arising from Hurricane Laura property damage to the insured’s Lake Charles, La., apartment complex, reversing and remanding with instructions to grant the insurers’ motion.