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

Mealey's International Arbitration

March 04, 2026
Reinsurers Transfer Dispute Over Arbitrator Conflict To New York Federal Court

NEW YORK — A group of reinsurers removed to a New York federal court a complaint in which an insurance exchange seeks to disqualify its former attorney from serving as a party-appointed arbitrator in a pending reinsurance claims dispute, alleging that the attorney breached fiduciary duties by representing the reinsurers in a matter involving the same contracts and issues on which he previously advised the insurance exchange.
March 04, 2026
English Judge Says Russia Must Pay $50B Oil Awards, But Not $60M In Attorney Fees

LONDON — An English judge issued a ruling recognizing arbitral awards against the Russian Federation worth more than $50 billion in damages, reportedly worth more than 66 billion British pounds with interest, in favor of the former shareholders of an oil company whose assets in Russia were expropriated by the state in breach of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), but declined to recognize the tribunal’s award of more than $60 million in attorney fees based on Russia’s argument that the shareholders concealed documents from the tribunal.
March 03, 2026
Judge Confirms Swiss Tribunal’s $568K Award In Dietary Supplement Dispute

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted a Swiss company’s petition to confirm an arbitral award against a California company worth more than $568,000 for a sales dispute over the failure to make timely payments under sales contracts for shipments of an ingredient used in nutritional products, despite pending litigation to set aside the award in Switzerland.
March 02, 2026
Judge Won’t Reconsider Ordering Arbitration In German Truckers’ Dispute

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge denied a motion by a German entity representing the interests of German truckers for re-argument or reconsideration of his order compelling arbitration of its dispute with third-party funders, writing that the entity’s contention that the court ignored its challenge to the arbitration agreement’s delegation clause was forfeited and waived despite being directly referenced at a hearing.
March 02, 2026
High Court Won’t Review $55M Chinese Award Over Arbitrator’s ‘Inattention’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 2 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Chinese national residing in California who had contended that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of the confirmation of a more than $55 million Chengdu Arbitration Commission (CAC) award against him violated U.S. public policy due to one arbitrator’s “inattention.”
February 27, 2026
On Remand, India Opposes Confirmation Of $136M Satellite Investment Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On remand after the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated a prior order confirming an arbitral award worth nearly $136 million against the Republic of India and in favor of a German entity that claimed expropriation of its investment in an Indian satellite company, India moved in D.C. federal court to deny the petition to confirm, arguing that the award should not be enforced under the New York Convention.
February 23, 2026
Changes To Hong Kong Tribunal Tainted $5.7M Attorney Fee Award, Court Told

LOS ANGELES — A Dutch company based in California and two California citizens on Feb. 20 filed a motion in California federal court for reconsideration of an order confirming a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) award against them worth more than $5.7 million, mostly comprising attorney fees in addition to arbitration costs, writing that the arbitration was flawed due to a new law that forced two of their counsel to resign and rendered HKIAC “incapable of impartial administration.”
February 23, 2026
High Court Won’t Review Italian Company’s Claims Over Improper Preclusion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an Italian energy company that argued that a New York state court improperly found that it was precluded from bringing claims in litigation due to the res judicata effect of an earlier arbitration award in a separate dispute between its subsidiary and affiliates of another energy company relating to the parties’ agreement for the handling and sale of liquid natural gas (LNG).
February 23, 2026
English Panel Says Nigeria Can’t Obtain Attorney Fees From Litigation Funder Yet

LONDON — An English appellate panel dismissed the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s appeal of a lower court’s order staying Nigeria’s application for a 20 million British pounds cost order, out of 44.2 million pounds in attorney fees allegedly due, against litigation funders that paid for a defunct Irish-owned engineering company’s unsuccessful litigation against Nigeria to enforce an arbitral award worth more than $11 billion, which was later set aside due to fraud, writing that a more detailed costs assessment is needed.
February 20, 2026
Oklahoma Law Bars Arbitration Of Storm Damage Insurance Dispute, Judge Says

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma federal judge denied a group of insurers’ motion to compel arbitration of a dispute over an insured’s claim for storm damage to a commercial property under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention), opining that Oklahoma state law reverse-preempts the convention and bars arbitration of this type of insurance dispute.
February 19, 2026
Tribunal Bifurcates Oil Investors’ Claims Over Dutch Gas Tremor Levies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Feb. 18 published a tribunal’s order granting a Belgian oil company’s request to bifurcate its arbitration against the Kingdom of the Netherlands over the termination of drilling at a Dutch oilfield into a first phase on liability and a second phase on damages, which the claimant said will require evaluating 3.96 billion euros of payments ordered to resolve 27,000 complaints of gas production-linked tremors.
February 19, 2026
Magistrate Recommends Confirming $157K Attorney Fees Award In Insurer’s Favor

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal magistrate judge on Feb. 18 issued a report and recommendation that the court confirm a JAMS arbitral award worth more than $211,000, comprising arbitration costs and $157,000 in attorney fees incurred by insurers in an ad hoc arbitration in which an insured business’s claim for underpayment was dismissed after it failed to appear at the arbitration hearing.
February 18, 2026
Environmental Group Can’t Participate In Refinery Investors’ EU Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Feb. 17 published a tribunal’s order denying an environmental group’s application to file a written submission on the merits of three pending arbitrations brought by a British oil refinery company and its subsidiaries against the European Union, the Kingdom of Denmark and the Federal Republic of Germany for allegedly ordering them to pay more than 175.5 million euros to mitigate the “energy crisis” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
February 13, 2026
D.C. Circuit Says Jurisdiction Over Russia Proper In Crimean Expropriation Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 13 issued a consolidated affirmance of two cases in which federal judges found jurisdiction over petitions to confirm arbitral awards collectively worth more than $252 million in favor of investors whose assets in the Crimean peninsula were found by separate tribunals to have been expropriated in 2014 by the Russian Federation in breach of a bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
February 13, 2026
Judge Finds Jurisdiction Over $37M Roads Dispute Award Against Guatemala

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Feb. 10 denied the Republic of Guatemala’s motion to dismiss a petition to confirm an arbitral award worth more than $37 million against it for terminating a road construction contract and rebuffed Guatemala’s challenges to jurisdiction, writing that the “purpose and structure” of international arbitration conventions and their implementing statutes establishes that they apply to U.S. enforcement of arbitral awards for foreign disputes against foreign sovereigns.
February 12, 2026
Venezuela Auction Judge Denies Special Master’s Fee Allocation Request

WILMINGTON, Del. — The federal judge overseeing a $5.8 billion auction in Delaware federal court of oil assets belonging to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its affiliates to satisfy confirmed arbitral awards and bond debts denied a request by the court-appointed special master to re-allocate more than $3 million in attorney fees he has incurred defending against a motion to disqualify himself so that the fees are paid by the movants.
February 11, 2026
Assignee Of Multiple ICSID Awards Defends Enforcement Rights Against Spain

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An investment entity filed a brief in District of Columbia federal court defending against the Kingdom of Spain’s relatively new argument challenging enforcement of three International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral awards against it collectively worth more than 90 million euros, which Spain says can be enforced only by the original party to the arbitration.
February 10, 2026
Tribunal Won’t Suspend Mexican Investors’ NAFTA Claim Despite Negotiations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Feb. 9 published a tribunal’s order denying two American entities’ request for suspension of their arbitration against the United Mexican States for harming their interest in debt securities worth more than $219 million in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), rejecting their argument that the Mexican president is willing to negotiate because Mexico opposed the suspension.
February 10, 2026
5th Circuit Won’t Rehear Insurers’ Bid To Arbitrate Hurricane Insurance Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 9 denied a group of domestic insurers’ petition for en banc rehearing of its ruling affirming that state law prohibits arbitration of insurance disputes over Louisiana hurricane damage like the one they were involved in and had said should be arbitrated pursuant to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention).
February 10, 2026
Mining Company Seeks Annulment Of No-Damages ICSID Award Against Colombia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Feb. 9 published a Canadian precious metals exploration company’s application for annulment of a no-damages award in its dispute against the Republic of Colombia, citing “inconsistency” in the award because a split tribunal awarded it no damages after a different majority of the split tribunal found Colombia caused the company damages.
February 09, 2026
Tribunal Dismisses Panama’s Request To Bifurcate Gold And Copper Mining Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Feb. 6 published a tribunal’s decision denying the Republic of Panama’s request to bifurcate a $400 million arbitration claim brought against it by a Canadian mining company that says Panama retroactively canceled its gold and copper mining concessions, finding both that Panama’s jurisdictional objections are intertwined with the merits and that the merits phase cannot be bifurcated because the merits are intertwined with potential damages.
February 05, 2026
5th Circuit Affirms Another Denial Of Insurers’ Bid To Arbitrate Hurricane Claims

NEW ORLEANS — In the latest of multiple rulings in which the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reversed course from its prior precedent and proceeded to bar arbitration of Louisiana hurricane insurance disputes following new Louisiana Supreme Court precedent, a panel on Feb. 4 issued a per curiam unpublished opinion affirming the vacatur of a previous order compelling arbitration of insurance and bad faith claims arising out of hurricane damage to a hotel.
February 04, 2026
Judge Compels Arbitration In Dubai After Previous Arbitration Center’s Abolition

NEW ORLEANS — On remand from the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a Louisiana federal judge compelled arbitration of a $1.3 million dispute over a Saudi oil and gas project at the Dubai International Arbitration Center (DIAC), rebuffing the parties’ competing arguments for arbitration in London or Saudi Arabia, which each side maintained would be a better option after the abolition of the Dubai arbitration institution at which they had previously agreed to arbitrate.
January 30, 2026
U.S. Issues License Allowing Transactions For ‘Venezuela-Origin Oil’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) on Jan. 29 issued a general license authorizing transactions for sales of oil and oil-related assets belonging to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its affiliates, which is required due to U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, representing a key step for pending litigation in Delaware federal court where a $5.8 billion bid for Venezuela’s holdings in CITGO Petroleum Corp. was approved, pending appeal before the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
January 28, 2026
5th Circuit: No Jurisdiction Over Insurers’ Bid To Arbitrate Hurricane Claims

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 27 ruled that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over an appeal brought by domestic insurers against a Louisiana political subdivision that brought claims for hurricane insurance coverage, citing a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling arising out of certified questions from the same case and recent Fifth Circuit precedents holding that state law prohibits arbitration of such disputes.