Mealey's International Arbitration
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August 28, 2023
Split Tribunal Awards 14.5M Euros To Investor In Serbian Dairy Farm Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) split tribunal awarded a Canadian investor more than 14.5 million euros for the Republic of Serbia’s seizure of his shares in a dairy farm investment, but found no jurisdiction over several other Canadian and Cypriot investors who participated in the arbitration.
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August 28, 2023
Venezuela Urges High Court To Review Alter Ego Liability Before Oil Shares Auction
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, urging it to review a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming the denial of their sovereign immunity from a planned auction of their oil shares to enforce arbitral awards worth more than $2.7 billion.
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August 28, 2023
Insurers Tell 5th Circuit $7M Hurricane Ida Dispute Belongs In Arbitration
NEW ORLEANS — A group of foreign and domestic insurers tells the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief that it should affirm a Louisiana federal court’s ruling compelling arbitration of property owners’ claims for $7 million in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith, writing that the arbitration is required under the insureds’ policies and the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the Convention).
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August 25, 2023
Zimbabwe Appeals Judge’s Refusal To Dismiss $264M Awards To D.C. Circuit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Zimbabwe filed notice in District of Columbia federal court that it is appealing a judge’s denial of its motions to dismiss two petitions seeking to confirm arbitral awards against it worth more than $264 million for the partial expropriation of Swiss and German nationals’ plantations, one filed by the plantation companies and one by the plantation owners.
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August 25, 2023
Terminal Operator Urges D.C. Circuit To Affirm $541M Award Against Djibouti
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Djibouti-based joint venture argues in its appellee brief to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it should affirm a “straightforward” confirmation of two London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) arbitral awards worth more than $541 million in its favor against the Republic of Djibouti for a dispute over control of a container terminal.
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August 24, 2023
2nd Circuit Refuses Rehearing Of $392M Award In Ecuadorian Oil Dispute
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a California oil company’s petition for rehearing of a panel’s ruling confirming an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award against it worth more than $392 million for withholding another oil company’s share of a $1 billion award against the Republic of Ecuador.
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August 24, 2023
Judge Awards Spanish Company Attorney Fees After Confirming Award In Dog Meds Row
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge awarded a Spanish company nearly $150,000 in attorney fees after confirming an arbitral award in which it was ordered to pay a nominal amount of 5,000 euros to two U.S. companies for a dog medication intellectual property dispute but was still determined to be the prevailing party and awarded nearly $1 million worth of attorney fees and arbitration costs.
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August 23, 2023
Award-Creditor Fails To Allege Basis For $7.1M Condo’s Seizure, Congo Says
NEW YORK — The Republic of the Congo moved to dismiss an arbitral award-creditor’s amended petition in New York federal court for turnover of a $7.1 million Trump Tower condo used by the Congo’s president’s daughter, arguing along with the condo’s owner that the award-creditor fails to properly allege the court’s jurisdiction over the petition.
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August 21, 2023
Judge Won’t Dismiss Bids To Enforce $264M Awards Against Zimbabwe
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied Zimbabwe’s motions to dismiss two petitions seeking to confirm arbitral awards against it worth more than $264 million for partial expropriation of Swiss and German nationals’ plantations, one filed by the plantation companies and one by the plantation owners, after rejecting Zimbabwe’s challenges to the court’s jurisdiction.
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August 16, 2023
Appellant Asks 2nd Circuit To Stay Arbitration In Reinsurance Dispute
NEW YORK — Arguing in part that a lower court “expanded, rather than applied, Second Circuit law,” an appellant seeking replacement of an arbitrator in a proceeding concerning two reinsurance contracts between Bermuda-based entities asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to stay what it terms “illegitimate” arbitration or, alternatively, order the dispute back to state court.
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August 16, 2023
Chapter 11 Filings Sideline Bid For Injunctive Relief In Aid Of Foreign Arbitration
NEW YORK — A suit seeking injunctive relief in aid of foreign arbitration in a dispute involving reinsurance has been placed on the suspense docket of a New York federal court, with a judge on Aug. 15 saying counsel for Vesttoo Ltd. and its subsidiaries “reported that all respondent entities have filed for bankruptcy.”
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August 10, 2023
Canada Says ICSID Lacks Jurisdiction Over Coal Miner’s NAFTA Claim For Shutdown
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Aug. 9 published the government of Canada’s memorial in response to a bankrupt coal mining investor’s notice of arbitration, writing that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction over the dispute as was found in an earlier arbitration brought in relation to the same mines’ expropriation allegedly caused by Canadian environmental regulations.
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August 10, 2023
U.S. Says Section 1782 Discovery Doesn’t Apply To ICSID In Amicus Brief
NEW YORK — The United States on Aug. 9 weighed in on a discovery dispute pending before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing in an amicus curiae brief that the court should affirm a ruling quashing an Italian company’s subpoena seeking discovery for use before an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal because ICSID tribunals are “ad hoc” entities not “imbued with governmental authority.”
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August 10, 2023
Kyrgyz Republic Says Tribunal Awarded ‘Punitive’ Interest Rate On $42M Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kyrgyz Republic filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court to vacate a split tribunal’s award against it worth more than $42 million in favor of four Uzbek entities that claimed damage to resorts they helped construct in the 1950s, writing that the majority overlooked the entities’ failures to comply with local laws and ordered that interest accrue on the award at a “punitive” rate that is improper under international law.
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August 07, 2023
Tribunal Recommends Germany Not Pursue Legal Remedy Against Renewables Investor
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal issued a “firm recommendation” that the Federal Republic of Germany not pursue a remedy that could affect the tribunal’s jurisdiction over an arbitral claim brought by Irish and German wind energy investors but declined to order Germany to withdraw from pending litigation seeking court declarations that the investors’ claim is inadmissible.
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August 07, 2023
Judge Stays Solar Panel Companies’ UCL, Trade Secret Row Pending Arbitration
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge stayed a lawsuit brought by a Korean solar panel manufacturer accusing two California-based solar panel companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), misappropriation of trade secrets and defamation pending the outcome of the parties’ arbitration in Singapore, finding that the parties’ agreement delegates questions of arbitrability to the arbitrators.
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August 04, 2023
Fruit Company Petitions 11th Circuit For Rehearing In Pineapple Award Row
ATLANTA — A California-based fruit company petitioned the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for panel and en banc rehearing of its appeal challenging a federal judge’s refusal to award it roughly $39.7 million in disgorgement for a Costa Rican company’s sales of a variety of pineapple the fruit company owns in violation of an arbitral award and court order.
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August 03, 2023
Judge Won’t Dismiss Petition To Confirm Award In Brazilian Sales Dispute
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Aug. 2 adopted in full a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and denied a Brazilian holding company and its owner’s motion to dismiss a petition to confirm an arbitral award against them worth more than 2.5 million Brazilian reais for allegedly draining Brazilian assets, in part through Florida real estate purchases, to evade payment of various debts.
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August 03, 2023
2nd Circuit Told Section 1782 Discovery Doesn’t Apply To ICSID Arbitrations
NEW YORK — The Republic of Panama and an engineering company in an appellee brief tell the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it should affirm a ruling quashing an Italian company’s subpoena seeking discovery for an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) case, writing that under recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent a court cannot help a party obtain discovery for a “private investor-State arbitration proceeding.”
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August 02, 2023
9th Circuit Nixes $1.3B Award Against Indian Company For Lack Of Jurisdiction
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 1 reversed entry of a $1.3 billion judgment confirming an arbitral award in favor of a since-liquidated Indian company against an Indian state-owned company for a satellite contract dispute, holding that a Washington federal judge erred by finding personal jurisdiction over the award-debtor after skipping a minimum-contacts analysis.
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July 31, 2023
$7M Award Again Confirmed In Guatemalan Business’s Favor On Remand From 11th Circuit
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on July 28 confirmed an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal’s award worth more than $7 million issued in a dispute over a Guatemalan hydroelectric dam project, finding after applying domestic grounds for vacatur as ordered by the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the arbitrators did not exceed their powers in ordering the award-debtor to return advance payments with interest and to issue new bonds.
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July 28, 2023
Magistrate Confirms $3M Award Despite Indian Company’s Failure To Return Equipment
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge on July 27 granted an Indian company’s petition to confirm an arbitral award worth more than $3 million plus more than $300,000 in interest against a Texas company after finding that, despite the Indian company’s failure to return its industrial equipment, the Texas company waived its defenses by failing to participate in arbitration.
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July 27, 2023
1st Circuit Won’t Reconsider Recycler’s Arbitration Dispute With Foreign Insurers
BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 26 denied a Puerto Rican recycling company’s petition to rehear en banc its challenge to an order compelling arbitration of its dispute over a fire claim with foreign insurers under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention).
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July 24, 2023
Intervenor Says $47M NAFTA Award Against Mexico Harms His Reputation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Mexican businessman moved to intervene on July 21 in District of Columbia federal court in litigation between a Canadian real estate investor and the United Mexican States over a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) arbitral award worth approximately $47 million in the Canadian party’s favor, arguing that he was labeled a perpetrator of fraud in the award while being excluded from presenting any defense.
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July 24, 2023
Haiti’s Motion For Relief Mooted By $31M Final Award’s Confirmation, Judge Says
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a motion by the Republic of Haiti (ROH) for relief from the court’s priori confirmation of a $23 million partial award against it for a fuel delivery dispute as moot in light of the court’s subsequent confirmation of a final award against it worth more than $31 million, writing that partial award was an interim measure ordering payment of pre-award security and “is no longer live.”