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

Mealey's International Arbitration

November 20, 2024
Judge Finds Service Defective In Bid To Confirm Singaporean $36M Consent Award

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington state federal judge ordered a Hong Kong citizen to show cause why the court should not dismiss his petition to confirm a Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) consent award worth more than $36 million against a non-appearing U.S. citizen due to improper service, finding that the petitioner did not explain why he identified the award-debtor as a citizen of Iowa but sought to serve him at a Seattle address.
November 19, 2024
Compelling Arbitration, Judge Says MOU Is ‘Closely Related’ To Reinsurance Contract

LOS ANGELES — Concluding that a 1984 memorandum of understanding (MOU) is “closely related to the reinsurance contract and not a completely separate agreement,” a California federal judge granted reinsurers’ motion to compel arbitration in a lawsuit over reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims.
November 18, 2024
3rd Circuit Won’t Rehear Moroccan Hotel Investors’ 60M Euro Award Challenge

SAN FRANCISCO — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for panel or en banc rehearing filed by a joint venture and its partner after a split panel reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment on claims brought against them by a hotel owner seeking to enforce an arbitral award worth more than 60 million euros.
November 15, 2024
Nigeria Urges High Court To Review Its Arbitral Liability For ‘Sovereign’ Actions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Republic of Nigeria filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of a split District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s affirmance of a $70 million arbitral award against it, which it says “extends” a circuit split over treaty interpretation and wrongly treats Nigeria as a “person” rather than a sovereign under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention).
November 15, 2024
D.C. Circuit Affirms $319M In Awards Against Zimbabwe For Damage To Plantations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Courts of Appeals affirmed the confirmation of two International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) awards collectively worth more than $319 million, one issued to the Swiss and German owners of Zimbabwean plantations and one to the plantation companies, rejecting the Republic of Zimbabwe’s argument that language in the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) at issue served as a venue provision requiring enforcement actions to be brought in its domestic courts.
November 14, 2024
United States Tells ICSID Canadian Company’s Pipeline Claim Is Time-Barred

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 13 published the United States’ memorial urging the court to dismiss during a bifurcated jurisdictional phase a Canadian province-owned oil company’s claim against it for 1.5 billion Canadian dollars in damages caused by the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, writing that the company’s North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claims are time-barred.
November 13, 2024
ICSID Tribunal Partly Grants Biofuel Investor’s Request For Rectification

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 12 published a tribunal’s decision on a biofuel investor’s request for rectification of an award rejecting the investor’s claims against the Republic of Panama for lack of jurisdiction and ordering it to pay roughly $1.5 million in attorney fees and arbitration costs, agreeing to rectify typographical errors but declining to change certain summaries of facts found by the tribunal.
November 12, 2024
Indigenous Communities May Participate In Coal Mining Arbitration Against Colombia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 11 published a tribunal’s order granting a petition by two indigenous Colombian communities to file submissions as non-disputing parties (NDPs) to the tribunal while it reviews a Swiss investor’s claim for $489.2 million against Colombia for impairing its coal mining investment, but denied a non-governmental advocacy organization’s request to participate as well.
November 11, 2024
Judge Confirms $50M NAFTA Award Against Mexico In Real Estate Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Nov. 8 granted a Canadian real estate investor’s cross-petition to confirm an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award in its favor against the United Mexican States worth more than $50 million for breaches of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and dismissed a Mexican businessman’s motion to intervene as moot.
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.