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1:19-cv-01618
District Of Columbia
Other Statutory Actions
Tanya S. Chutkan
A D.C. federal judge enforced a pair of arbitral awards against Spain worth a combined €332.4 million ($390.5 million), days before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to take up the country's jurisdictional challenge in the cases.
Spain is planning to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit decision that greenlighted the enforcement of intra-European Union investor-state awards in U.S. federal courts, saying in court filings that the appeal raises serious issues related to foreign sovereign immunity.
Spain is asking the D.C. Circuit to overturn a novel decision last month barring the country from avoiding a €291 million award that arbitrators, in 2019, said it owes Dutch subsidiaries of the U.S.-based NextEra Energy Inc. for reversing policies to encourage solar development.
A D.C. federal judge has ruled that Spain cannot escape litigation filed by Dutch subsidiaries of U.S.-based NextEra Energy Inc. to enforce a €291 million ($310.4 million) arbitral award against it, issuing a novel opinion rejecting the country's "backdoor" European law defenses.
Dutch subsidiaries of U.S.-based NextEra Energy Inc. told a D.C. federal judge Monday that Spain's jurisdictional objections are "borderline frivolous" and shouldn't prevent the court from issuing an order halting pending litigation in the Netherlands aimed at stopping the companies from enforcing a €291 million ($312.28 million) arbitration award against the country.
Spain is defending litigation it filed in the Netherlands to halt Dutch subsidiaries of U.S.-based NextEra Energy Inc. from trying to enforce a €291 million ($315.78 million) arbitral award against it, telling a D.C. federal court that the companies are trying to evade European law.
Spain has initiated urgent litigation in the Netherlands aimed at halting Dutch subsidiaries of U.S.-based NextEra Energy Inc. from trying to enforce a €291 million ($315.8 million) arbitral award against the country in federal court in Washington, D.C., the companies said on Thursday.
Dutch subsidiaries of U.S.-based NextEra Energy Inc. are pressing a Washington, D.C., federal court to enforce a €291 million ($306 million) arbitral award they won against Spain, saying the fact that the award has been upheld by an annulment committee means there is nothing left to argue.
European authorities are urging a D.C. federal court not to confirm a €291 million arbitral award against Spain over its decision to revoke clean-energy incentives, claiming the case should not have gone to arbitration in the first place and instead belongs in a European Union court.
Spain has challenged the basis of a €291 million ($322.6 million) arbitral award issued to Dutch subsidiaries of U.S.-based NextEra Energy Inc., arguing arbitration panels weren't the proper venue to resolve the dispute.