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Mealey's International Arbitration

  • 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.

  • October 21, 2024

    ICSID Tribunal Rejects Internet Services Investors’ $350M Contract Claim

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal rejected on the merits all claims brought against the Republic of Colombia by an internet services investor that claimed that Colombia caused it more than $350 million in damages by refusing to extend a contract for domain services and separately rejected its request to transfer the claim to a new corporate entity.

  • October 18, 2024

    COMMENTARY: Interview: Antonia Birt And Rebeca Mosquera Of Reed Smith Discuss Using AI To Improve The Efficiency Of International Arbitrations

    Copyright © 2024, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.

  • October 14, 2024

    COMMENTARY: International Arbitration Experts Discuss The ICSID Arbitration Rules And The Disclosure Of Third-Party Funders Information

    [Editor’s Note: Copyright © 2024, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.]

  • October 02, 2024

    COMMENTARY: Who Determines When Correcting Computational Errors In An Arbitral Award Becomes A Reconsideration Of The Merits?

    By William W. Russell

  • October 18, 2024

    Judge Finds Jurisdiction Over Nicaragua’s Bid To Enforce $1.5M Fee Award

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion filed by trustees of a family trust to dismiss a petition filed against them by the Republic of Nicaragua seeking to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award for more than $1.5 million in attorney fees with compound interest, which it won in 2023 after prevailing in an oil investment arbitration brought by the trust and its co-claimants.

  • October 17, 2024

    EU Investors Say D.C. Circuit Properly Found Jurisdiction Over Spain

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three renewable energy investors on Oct. 16 filed briefs to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opposing the Kingdom of Spain’s petition for en banc rehearing in consolidated appeals regarding federal jurisdiction over the investors’ petitions to confirm intra-European Union arbitral awards worth approximately 358 million euros, arguing that the panel’s ruling was correct and that Spain seeks “further delay.”

  • October 17, 2024

    11th Circuit Affirms $7M Award In Guatemalan Hydroelectric Dam Dispute

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 16 affirmed an International Chamber of Commerce award worth more than $7 million in a Guatemalan hydroelectric dam dispute, rejecting arguments by the award-debtor that the tribunal exceeded its authority by ordering it to maintain existing bonds or purchase new ones and by rejecting its argument that the other party engaged in bribery.

  • October 07, 2024

    High Court Won’t Review FAA Service Rules In Mexican Film Award Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Mexican film distributor seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion rejecting its arguments, involving multiple questions of first impression, that as a nonresident of the United States, it was not properly served under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) before being ordered to pay an arbitral award worth more than $536,000.

  • October 04, 2024

    High Court To Review Reversal Of $1.3B Award In Indian Satellite Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 granted and consolidated two petitions for certiorari filed by an Indian satellite company and by its shareholders and subsidiary, all of whom sought review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal on jurisdictional grounds of a $1.3 billion arbitral award in their favor based on circuit precedent regarding the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

  • October 02, 2024

    Spanish Gas Company Says $197M Award Must Be Vacated Due To Fraud

    NEW YORK — Two Spanish gas companies filed a petition in New York federal court to vacate an arbitral award issued against them worth approximately $197 million, asserting that the tribunal disregarded applicable law, that the award was procured through corruption and that enforcing it would represent double recovery for the award recipient.

  • October 01, 2024

    Judge Confirms $60M Award In Ghanaian Internet Loan Dispute

    NEW YORK — A U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York judge confirmed an London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award worth more than $60 million against the guarantor of a Ghanian high-speed internet network company that received and then defaulted on a loan, finding that the award is not excessive and does not violate public policy and that no other grounds for nonrecognition of the award apply.

  • September 30, 2024

    Successor’s ‘Mere Presence’ Doesn’t Create Jurisdiction Over $140M Award Petition

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on Sept. 27 granted an Italian construction company’s motion to dismiss a Chilean contractor’s petition to enforce an arbitral award worth more than $140 million against it as successor-in-interest to another contractor, finding that the Italian company’s assets in Delaware are insufficient to establish quasi in rem jurisdiction.

  • September 27, 2024

    Judge Enforces 25M Euro Award Against Spain For Energy Charter Treaty Breach

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 26 granted an investment entity’s petition to confirm an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth more than 25 million euros against the Kingdom of Spain for harming a Japanese company’s solar thermal plant investment.

  • September 26, 2024

    Peruvian Instrumentality Wins Set-Aside Of Default In $168M Broadband Contract Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted a Peruvian state-owned instrumentality’s motion to vacate a default judgment entered against it in a petition to confirm an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral award worth more than $168 million against it, but also granted default judgment and confirmed the award against the Republic of Peru and another state entity for the abrupt termination of broadband contracts with a Peruvian company.

  • September 24, 2024

    Judge Awards Singaporean Company $124K In Attorney Fees For Ghanaian Turbine Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 23 granted in part a Singaporean company’s motion for attorney fees after previously entering a default judgment of more than $113 million against the Republic of Ghana for abruptly terminating the company’s gas turbine contract.

  • September 23, 2024

    India Tells D.C. Circuit Judge Wrongly Confirmed $136M Award For German Investor

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of India filed an appellant brief to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals urging it to reverse a District of Columbia federal judge’s confirmation of an arbitral award worth nearly $136 million in favor of a German entity, writing that the judge “improperly” decided to resolve the case on the merits after it had fully briefed only its jurisdictional defenses.

  • September 23, 2024

    Judge OKs Email, Facebook Service To Ukrainian Debtor In $124M Dispute

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied a Ukrainian debtor’s motion to dismiss a petition to confirm a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award worth approximately $124 million against him for improper service, finding that service via email and Facebook to the debtor attorneys was properly approved by a state court judge.

  • September 20, 2024

    5th Circuit Reverses Court’s Vacatur Of ‘Addendum’ To $10.5M Gas Well Award

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 19 reversed a Texas federal court’s vacatur of an addendum award that reduced by more than $4 million a tribunal’s $10.5 million award against a Republic of Cameroon company for a dispute over gas well profits, finding that the addendum was properly issued and ordering its confirmation.

  • September 20, 2024

    ICSID Tribunal Rejects Objection To Potential Consolidation Of Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a consolidation tribunal’s decision rejecting a Canadian mining investor’s timeliness objection to its appointment by the ICSID secretary-general and affirmed that it may proceed to decide if two tax dispute claims the investor brought against the United Mexican States should be consolidated.

  • September 20, 2024

    ICSID Bifurcates Supplement Maker’s $2.7B Expropriation Claim Against Mexico

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Sept. 19 published a tribunal’s order granting the United Mexican States’ request to bifurcate a Michigan-based company’s claim for $2.7 billion in damages based on the alleged expropriation of its Mexican farmland, with the tribunal agreeing to resolve in a preliminary phase Mexico’s objection that the claim is improper and time-barred under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

  • September 20, 2024

    Tribunal Finds No Jurisdiction Over Oil Rig Investors’ Claims Against Mexico

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Sept. 19 published a tribunal’s award rejecting jurisdiction over U.S. oil rig investors’ $270 million North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim against Mexico for allegedly driving their investment into bankruptcy, but awarded Mexico no attorney fees due to its “procedural misconduct” during the document production phase.

  • September 19, 2024

    German Shipping Company, Albania Settle ICSID Claim Over Port Investment

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s taking note of the discontinuance of an arbitration brought against the Republic of Albania by a German shipping company that had claimed that Albania harmed its investment in operating a terminal at the Port of Durres.

  • September 19, 2024

    Djibouti Says D.C. Circuit Shouldn’t Rehear $541M Terminal Award Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Djibouti in a Sept. 18 response brief filed with the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals argues that the court should not reconsider a panel’s ruling reversing the confirmation of a more than $541 million award in favor of a terminal operator, writing that the panel correctly reversed after finding it unclear whether the operator’s attorneys had authority to represent it and asserting that the issue was not forfeited.