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

Mealey's International Arbitration

December 04, 2023
COMMENTARY: Public Policy Challenges To Arbitration Awards In The United Arab Emirates

By Moamen Elwan and Nils de Wolff
December 15, 2023
Presiding Arbitrator Dissents From Production Order In ICSID Claim Against Qatar

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a split tribunal’s order on document production issued in a French-Algerian investor’s pending claim against the state of Qatar, with the presiding arbitrator dissenting from the denial of the claimant’s requests for business records he says were seized from him when he was detained by Qatar for six months.
December 15, 2023
Judge Denies Venezuela’s Request To Certify Appeal Of Attachment Orders Worth $8B

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on Dec. 14 after a hearing denied a request by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) to certify for interlocutory appeal his order granting writs of attachment to arbitral award-creditors and bondholders seeking to enforce judgments that Venezuela says are collectively worth more than $8 billion.
December 15, 2023
Split Tribunal Rejects Spanish Energy Investor’s $667M Claim Against Argentina

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal on Dec. 14 rejected a Spanish investor’s claims against the Argentine Republic for harming its investment and causing damages estimated at up to $667 million, finding that the investor was not harmed by arbitrary measures or forced to accept reduced income based on the nation’s regulatory changes, while the dissenting arbitrator said the investor was deceived by Argentina.
December 15, 2023
Tribunal Denies Some Of Guatemala’s Objections To $320M Electricity Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Dec. 14 published a tribunal’s ruling refusing to terminate two consolidated claims brought against the Republic of Guatemala by Colombian and Guatemalan electricity investors after granting and rejecting in part Guatemala’s preliminary objections and rejecting its arguments that the investors should have pursued administrative or legal remedies instead of arbitration.
December 14, 2023
Mining Company Urges ICSID To Find Jurisdiction Over NAFTA Claim Against Canada

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a bankrupt coal mining company’s countermemorial opposing the Canadian government’s arguments that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction over its claims for harming its investments in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), writing that Canada should be precluded from challenging its standing based on Canada’s arguments in a previous dispute between the parties.
December 13, 2023
Russia Asserts Sovereign Immunity Defense To Investor’s $5B Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Russian Federation (RF) moved in District of Columbia federal court to dismiss a petition to enforce an arbitral against it worth more than $5 billion, writing that it never ratified the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), under which the arbitration claims were brought, and that the award is invalid because the award-creditor is not a protected investor and did not have its funds expropriated.
December 12, 2023
3rd Circuit Asks Venezuela, Creditors To Address If Attachment Order Is Final

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals consolidated 11 appeals filed by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) challenging writs of attachment granted to arbitral award-creditors and bondholders seeking to enforce judgments collectively worth billions and asked the parties to address whether the order is final and appealable.
December 12, 2023
High Court Gives Chinese Entity More Time To Respond In Ecuadorian Oil Award Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a Chinese company-owned oil investor nearly two months to respond to a U.S. oil company’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of an award against it worth more than $392 million in relation to a $1 billion Ecuadorian oil dispute between the parties after requesting a response from the Chinese investor.
December 12, 2023
D.C. Circuit Affirms Confirmation Of $440M ICSID Award Against Venezuela

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth more than $440 million against Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its foreign ministry for the expropriation of two Spanish entities’ investments was properly confirmed without review of the tribunal’s merits or jurisdictional findings pursuant to the ICSID Convention.
December 11, 2023
Shareholder Tells 2nd Circuit Gabon Account Freeze Order In Pipeline Dispute Was Proper

NEW YORK — An investor in a Cameroonian pipeline company currently arbitrating a shareholder dispute tells the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief that a federal judge correctly ordered two Citibank entities to comply with an emergency arbitrator’s order that they compel a Gabonese affiliate to freeze the pipeline company’s $151 million account, writing that the court did not err or abuse its discretion.
December 06, 2023
Saudi Heirs’ Lawyer Opposes $268,000 Attorney Fees Sanction For Filing Fake Article

SAN FRANCISCO — The attorney who unsuccessfully petitioned to confirm an arbitral award worth $18 billion in favor of the heirs of Saudi Arabian sheikhs against U.S. oil companies filed a brief in California federal court opposing the entry of judgment against him for roughly $268,000 in attorney fees that he was ordered to pay as a sanction after he filed a faked news article as an exhibit to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
December 05, 2023
BVI Entity Appeals Judge’s Order Restoring $4M To $10.5M Gas Well Award

HOUSTON — A British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity filed a notice of appeal in Texas federal court stating that it will challenge the judgment entered after the court vacated the portion of an addendum award that reduced the tribunal’s original $10.5 million award for a dispute over profits from gas wells in the Republic of Cameroon by more than $4 million.
December 04, 2023
Cypriot Investor Asks Court To Enforce More Than $50M Award Against Poland

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Cypriot investor filed a petition in District of Columbia federal court seeking to enforce an arbitral award against the Republic of Poland for more than 200 million Polish zloty and 500,000 euros.
December 04, 2023
Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbek Entities Settle Dispute Over $42M Resort Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Dec. 1 ordered the dismissal of the Kyrgyz Republic’s petition to vacate a split tribunal’s award against it worth more than $42 million in favor of four Uzbek entities in a dispute over resorts the entities helped to construct in the 1950s after the parties settled the dispute and submitted a joint stipulation stating that the award is now “extinguished.”
December 01, 2023
High Court Distributes Petition Challenging $392M Ecuadorian Oil Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court distributed for conference a U.S. oil company’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of an award against it worth more than $392 million in relation to a $1 billion Ecuadorian oil dispute after the Chinese company-owned respondent waived its right to respond.
November 30, 2023
Confidentiality Rules Set In Gold Miner’s $100M NAFTA Claim Against Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 29 published an order setting confidentiality rules for a Canadian gold mining company’s arbitration against the United Mexican States and the miner’s request for arbitration in which it accuses Mexican courts of a “judicial expropriation” in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
November 30, 2023
In GitHub AI Copyright Suit, Parties Told To Meet, Confer Not Move To Compel

SAN FRANCISCO — While a California federal court mulls a second round of motions from OpenAI Inc., GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. seeking dismissal of claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) related to allegations of improper attribution in the development of an artificial intelligence tool, a magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery responses in favor of a directive for the parties to meet and confer about discovery disputes.
November 27, 2023
ExxonMobil Entities Seek To Confirm Nearly $1B Award Against Venezuela

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Exxon Mobil entities filed a petition in a District of Columbia federal court seeking to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth roughly $1 billion issued in their favor after more than 15 years of arbitration against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the expropriation of their oil investments, arguing that the court’s jurisdiction is proper and that there is no basis to refuse enforcement of the award.
November 20, 2023
COMMENTARY: A Second Bite At The Rotten Apple?: Diverging Approaches To National Court Review Of Arbitral Tribunals’ Findings On Corruption

By Arif Hyder Ali and Michael A. Losco
November 01, 2023
COMMENTARY: The Annulment Of Arbitral Awards For Violation Of International Public Policy Under Spanish Law

By Sofía Rivas and Michelle Donovan
November 21, 2023
Casino Dispute’s Arbitrability Should Be Delegated To Arbitrator, High Court Told

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-incorporated entity owned by a Hong Kong investor filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court urging it to review the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a district court’s order compelling arbitration of its dispute with a CNMI regulator over its license to make a $3.14 billion investment in a casino and hotel in Saipan.
November 21, 2023
Judge Denies Russia’s Motion To Dismiss Petition To Confirm $57B Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied the Russian Federation’s motion to dismiss a petition by shareholders seeking to enforce arbitral awards against Russia worth more than $57 billion, rejecting Russia’s argument that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction due to its sovereign immunity and ordering that the case proceed to the merits.
November 17, 2023
Nigeria Tells D.C. Circuit Tribunal Wrongly Awarded Chinese Company $70M

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Republic of Nigeria writes in an appellant brief to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that an arbitral award worth nearly $70 million in favor of a Chinese company should not be enforced under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) because the company’s contract was with a Nigerian state, not the nation itself.