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

Mealey's International Arbitration

June 28, 2024
High Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Changes Standard For Regulatory Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 voted 6-3 to overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference as incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations, changing governing precedent for federal courts reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions.
June 25, 2024
ICSID Rejects Canadian Gold Mining Investor’s $180M Claim Against Colombia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on June 24 published a tribunal’s award in which it found jurisdiction over a Canadian gold mining company’s claims against the Republic of Colombia for more than $180 million in damages but rejected its claims that Colombia expropriated its investment by imposing environmental restrictions on its mining activities.
June 25, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms $268K Sanction Against Saudi Heirs’ Lawyer For Fake Article

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel granted a motion for summary affirmance filed by Chevron Corp. and Chevron U.S.A. (collectively, Chevron) and affirmed a $268,000 sanction against an attorney for the heirs of a Saudi sheikh for filing a fake news article during an appeal over an $18 billion award.
June 25, 2024
Split Tribunal Orders Colombia To Pay Investor $10M For Nickel Royalties Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on June 24 published a split tribunal’s award finding that the Republic of Colombia breached its obligations toward a British investor by improperly assessing royalties owed by the investor’s wholly owned Colombian subsidiary for its nickel mining activities under a national concession agreement.
June 24, 2024
Industrial Equipment Maker’s Canadian Arbitration Provision Not Binding, Judge Says

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal judge denied a Canadian industrial equipment maker’s motion to dismiss a breach of contract lawsuit brought against it by a customer who claims that its machinery did not function correctly, finding that under the U.N.’s Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the parties’ contract does not contain a binding arbitration clause.
June 24, 2024
Russian Award-Creditor Dismisses RICO Claims Against Defendants In Default

LOS ANGELES — A Russian award-creditor who has been suing to enforce a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award worth more than $92 million on June 21 voluntarily dismissed his claims for violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against the remaining defendants against whom default was previously entered, after entering a previous stipulation of dismissal against a Monaco bank and administrator accused of conspiring to shield the award-debtor’s assets from enforcement.
June 21, 2024
Mexico Urges Tribunal To Dismiss Noteholders’ $219M NAFTA Claim As Improper

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on June 20 published the United Mexican States’s memorial on jurisdiction demanding the dismissal on various procedural grounds of a pending arbitration brought against it by two American entities that claim that they were improperly barred from obtaining payment for debt securities worth more than $219 million.
June 21, 2024
$72M Judgment Entered Against Chinese Company For Source Code Misappropriation

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge entered judgment worth more than $72 million against a Chinese company reflecting a confirmed arbitral award against it for misappropriating an American company’s source code and later breaching a settlement agreement under which it had agreed to let the American company review its code for further use of its trade secrets.
June 20, 2024
$75M Judgment Entered In Chinese-Brazilian Solar Panel Dispute

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge entered a judgment worth more than $75 million in favor of a Brazilian energy company reflecting the court’s earlier confirmation of an arbitral award in its favor for breach of contract claims against a Chinese solar panel manufacturer.
June 19, 2024
Poland Asks To Dismiss Or Stay Bid To Enforce $50M Award For Repealed Penalty

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republic of Poland filed a motion in District of Columbia federal court seeking to dismiss or stay a Cypriot energy investor’s petition to enforce an arbitral award against it worth more than $50 million, which was issued pursuant to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) after Poland refused to refund the investor’s subsidiary for a 450 million Polish zloty fine that was later repealed by Polish courts.
June 18, 2024
Judge Confirms $50M ICC Award In Airline Catering Dispute Despite Settlement

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on June 17 granted a catering company’s petition to confirm a Singapore-seated International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal’s award in its favor worth more than $50 million against a South Korean airline, two weeks after denying the parties’ joint stipulation to stay the case in light of a settlement.
June 18, 2024
‘Lord Of The Dance’ Must Arbitrate Defects Dispute With Insurer, Irish Judge Rules

DUBLIN, Ireland — The High Court of Ireland rejected dancer and businessman Michael Flatley’s bid to avoid arbitration of a 30 million euro dispute over defects in his County Cork mansion that he claims caused him and his family members severe health issues, rejecting his argument that the policy’s arbitration agreement is unfair and unenforceable.
June 17, 2024
2nd Circuit Vacates Gabon Account Freeze Order In Pipeline Dispute

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 14 vacated a federal judge’s ruling giving an effect to an emergency arbitrator’s order directing shareholders of a Cameroonian pipeline company to leave a bank account in Gabon frozen, writing that the judge lacked authority to order two Citibank entities to compel their Gabonese affiliate to freeze the $151 million account.
June 17, 2024
Insurers’ Motion To Compel Arbitration Should Have Been Granted, 5th Circuit Says

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 14 reversed and remanded a lower federal court’s ruling that denied insurers’ motion to compel arbitration in insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking damages for commercial property damage caused by hurricanes Laura and Delta, finding that the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards applies despite the insureds’ dismissal of their claims against foreign insurers.
June 13, 2024
Supplement Maker Urges Tribunal To Award $2.7B For Mexican Land Expropriation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on June 12 published a Michigan-based company’s memorial setting forth its claim for $2.7 billion in damages against the United Mexican States in which it argues that Mexico disrupted its expectations for stability by expropriating its farmland and bringing its global distribution of vitamin supplements to a halt.
June 12, 2024
Judge Confirms $62M Solar Panel Award In Brazilian Energy Company’s Favor

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on June 11 granted a Brazilian energy company’s cross-petition to confirm an arbitral award worth more than $62 million it won in a breach of contract dispute against a Chinese solar panel manufacturer for failure to make preliminary payments required under the parties’ contract.
June 12, 2024
Split ICSID Tribunal Rejects American Mining Investor’s $900M Claim Against Peru

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on June 11 published a split tribunal’s award finding jurisdiction over the bulk of an American investor’s claims against the Republic of Peru for harming its investment in a copper mine but rejecting all of its claims for damages on the merits.
June 10, 2024
Russian Award-Creditor Settles RICO Claims For Alleged Asset Concealment

LOS ANGELES — A Russian award-creditor, a debtor and affiliated individuals and entities filed a joint stipulation on June 7 in California federal court notifying the court that they have settled all claims pending in the action brought by the award-creditor for violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by allegedly conspiring to shield assets from enforcement of a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award.
June 07, 2024
Judge Confirms $72M Award Against Chinese Company For Source Code Misappropriation

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge confirmed an arbitral award worth more than $72 million against a Chinese company that was found by an arbitrator to have misappropriated an American company’s source code and later breached a settlement agreement under which it would allow the American company to review its code for any further use of its trade secrets.
June 06, 2024
Judge Grants Partial Summary Judgment On RICO Claims In Russian Arbitral Feud

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part two defendants’ motions for summary judgment on claims against them for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by allegedly participating in a conspiracy to shield a Russian’s assets from enforcement of a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award issued for a Russian real estate dispute.
June 06, 2024
United States Asks ICSID To Bifurcate Canadian Company’s Pipeline Claim

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on June 5 published the United States’ request for bifurcation of claims brought by a Canadian province-owned oil company’s claim against it for more than 1.5 billion Canadian dollars over the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, writing that the tribunal should first address whether the company’s North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claims are time-barred.
June 06, 2024
Mexican Film Company Urges High Court To Review Rules Of FAA Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Mexican film distributor urges the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion evaluating multiple questions of first impression regarding requirements for service of nonresidents under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), writing that it was not properly served before being ordered to pay an arbitral award worth more than $536,000.
June 05, 2024
Tribunal Sets Rules In Noteholders’ $219M NAFTA Claim Against Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s order setting transparency and confidentiality rules for a pending arbitration brought against the United Mexican States by two American entities that hold debt securities in Mexico worth more than $219 million, payment of which they contend was improperly barred due to bias by a Mexican court.
June 03, 2024
Judge Rejects Venezuelan Bid To Dismiss Special Master From Pending Oil Share Auction

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on May 31 denied a motion by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its state-owned oil company and affiliated entities to disqualify an appointed special master from supervising the planned auction of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company’s assets to enforce an estimated $24 billion in judgments reflecting confirmed arbitral award and bond disputes, writing that the Venezuela parties failed to establish improper advocacy by the special master.
May 31, 2024
COMMENTARY: "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”: Supreme Court Resolves FAA Circuit Split On Staying Arbitration

By Ed Mullins, James P. Duffy IV, Niyati Ahuja and Wardah A. Bari