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Mealey's International Arbitration

  • December 23, 2025

    Court Confirms $765K Attorney Fees Award Against Chinese Law Firm’s Client

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on Dec. 22 granted a Chinese law firm’s petition to confirm a Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) award worth more than $765,000 in unpaid attorney fees against the firm’s former client, who is now residing in Washington state.

  • December 22, 2025

    Tribunal Bifurcates More Objections In $120M Honduran Electricity Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s order granting in part the Republic of Honduras’ request to bifurcate its additional objections to the tribunal’s jurisdiction over claims against it for more than $120 million in damages brought by two Guatemalan investors, which Honduras contends are inarbitrable contract claims.

  • December 12, 2025

    COMMENTARY: International Arbitration Experts Discuss The Use Of An AI Arbitrator For Construction Arbitrations

    [Editor’s Note: Copyright © 2025, LexisNexis. All rights reserved.]

  • December 22, 2025

    Italy Ordered To Pay More Than 85M Euros For Waste Management Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Dec. 19 published a tribunal’s award in favor of a French investor worth more than 85 million euros and more than $580,000 in arbitration costs, finding that Italy breached the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) by partly causing the investor’s waste management enterprise’s insolvency.

  • December 18, 2025

    Mining Investors Tell High Court Zimbabwe Waived Sovereign Immunity

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Mauritian mining investors filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging the U.S. Supreme Court to address a circuit conflict over the standards for finding that a foreign state impliedly waived its sovereign immunity from suit in federal court, arguing that the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly decided the issue in finding no jurisdiction existed over the investors’ petition to enforce a Zambian court’s judgment confirming an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral award worth roughly $50 million against Zimbabwe and its mining regulators.

  • December 18, 2025

    Corruption Issues Preclude Enforcement Of $1B Award, South Sudan Bank Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bank of South Sudan (BOSS), which on Dec. 17 filed notice in District of Columbia federal court explaining that its counsel was never formally retained to represent co-respondent the Republic of South Sudan, separately filed a brief urging the court to deny a Qatari bank’s motion for judgment on the pleadings confirming an arbitral award against them worth more than $1 billion, writing that the award didn’t address the convictions on corruption charges of certain bank officials.

  • December 18, 2025

    Colombian Coffee Company’s U.S. Parent Compelled To Arbitrate $2.1M Dispute

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge found that a Colombian coffee company’s U.S. parent acted as its principal during negotiations of a coffee bean contract that contained an arbitration clause and, therefore, granted a petition pursuant to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) to compel the parent to participate in arbitration of a more than $2.1 million contract dispute.

  • December 16, 2025

    Judge Denies Guatemala’s Motion To Dismiss Construction Awards Worth $31M

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge adopted in full a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation (R&R) and denied the Republic of Guatemala’s motion to dismiss a petition to confirm three arbitral awards against it worth more than $31 million for construction disputes with a Guatemalan company, overruling Guatemala’s objections to the report based on related proceedings in its domestic courts.

  • December 12, 2025

    Split Tribunal Awards Chevron More Than $220M In Fees For Ecuador Fight

    THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A split Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal awarded Chevron Corp. and its subsidiary more than $220 million in attorney fees and expenses incurred opposing an Ecuadorian court’s “fraudulent” multibillion-dollar judgment for oil drilling in the rainforest, representing less than 25% of what Chevron sought, with a dissenting arbitrator saying Chevron deserved all the fees it incurred suing a U.S. lawyer who was involved in bribing an Ecuadorian judge.

  • December 09, 2025

    5th Circuit Says State Law Bars Arbitration Of Hurricane Policy Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 8, applying a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling on certified questions of law regarding the arbitrability of insurance disputes, affirmed a lower court’s denial of domestic insurers’ motion to compel arbitration of a Louisiana town’s claims for damages, breach of contract and bad faith after finding that the participation of foreign insurers in the policy does not require the court to apply the New York Convention.

  • December 09, 2025

    Tribunal Says Netherlands Should Suspend Litigation Opposing Oil Arbitration

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published two procedural orders in a dispute between a Belgian oil company and the Kingdom of the Netherlands over the termination of drilling at a Dutch oilfield after local complaints of earthquakes, with the tribunal directing the Netherlands to halt domestic litigation against the oil company and declining the oil company’s request that it order the Netherlands to not impose new levies on it.

  • December 08, 2025

    Shareholders Defend $57B Arbitral Award Against Russia Before High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The oil company shareholders who won an arbitral award against the Russian Federation worth $57 billion on Dec. 5 filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing Russia’s petition for a writ of certiorari, writing that the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision vacating the denial of Russia’s motion to dismiss properly applied the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to the question of whether an arbitration agreement exists.

  • December 01, 2025

    Split Tribunal Says $2.7B Land Seizure Claim Against Mexico Untimely Under NAFTA

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 26 published a split tribunal’s award dismissing for lack of jurisdiction a Michigan-based company’s claim for $2.7 billion in damages against the United Mexican States for expropriation of its Mexican farmland and ordered it to pay Mexico more than $1 million in attorney fees, with the majority opining that the claim was untimely under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

  • November 26, 2025

    Chinese National Tells High Court Arbitrator ‘Misbehavior’ Tainted $55M Award

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Chinese national who resides in California urges the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari to review a ruling affirming the confirmation of a Chengdu Arbitration Commission (CAC) arbitral award worth more than $55 million against him despite a “rogue” arbitrator on the tribunal who “misbehaved” by traveling, using a restroom and talking to third parties during a hearing, which the petitioner says warrants vacatur.

  • November 26, 2025

    ICSID Tribunal Dismisses U.S. Investor’s $644M Claim Against Nicaragua

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 25 published a tribunal’s award rejecting all claims against the Republic of Nicaragua for causing an American investor $644 million in damages after finding that paramilitary activities that damaged an avocado plantation were not attributable to state organs of Nicaragua.

  • November 26, 2025

    Judge Approves $5.8B Bid By Hedge Fund Subsidiary For Venezuelan Oil Assets

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware on Nov. 25 granted approval to a $5.8 billion bidder for oil assets in an auction of assets belonging to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its affiliates, which the court ordered attached to satisfy confirmed international arbitration awards and bond debts worth more than $22 billion, with the judge writing that a hedge fund subsidiary offered “the only Qualified Bid before the Court.”

  • November 25, 2025

    ICSID Tribunal Dismisses Sultan’s Heirs’ $18B Claim Against Spain

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 24 published a partly redacted award in which a tribunal dismissed as “manifestly without legal merit” an arbitration claim brought against the Kingdom of Spain by the heirs of a sultan claiming entitlement to a controversial $18 billion award for breach of a lease from 1878.

  • November 25, 2025

    Judge Applies Federal, Not ICSID, Postjudgment Interest Rate To Award

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Nov. 24 ruled that postjudgment interest should accrue on a confirmed International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award against the Kingdom of Spain worth more than 28 million euros plus interest at the federal statutory rate, not the post-award rate ordered by the tribunal, rejecting an issue of first impression regarding the merger doctrine’s applicability to the issue.

  • November 24, 2025

    Investors Say Court Should Enforce Awards Against Spain Worth 100M Euros

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two European investors filed a joint brief opposing the Kingdom of Spain’s motion to dismiss their consolidated petitions seeking enforcement of arbitral awards issued in their favor by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) against Spain collectively worth more than 100 million euros and later annulled by Swedish courts, writing that governing precedent supports enforcement.

  • November 11, 2025

    Interview: Hagit Elul of Orrick Discusses International Arbitration

    Copyright © 2025, LexisNexis.  All rights reserved.

  • November 13, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Summarising With AI, Reviewing With Care: The Use Of AI By Arbitrators – And What That Means For Advocates

    By Fiona Cain, Jack Spence, Michael Mazzone and Harry Phillips

  • November 21, 2025

    English Investor Seeks To Confirm $1.12M Award Against Afghanistan

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A London-based investor on Nov. 20 filed a petition in the District of Columbia federal court to confirm an arbitral award in its favor worth more than $1.12 million against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and a state agency for disputes arising out of a $1.2 billion electricity transfer project.

  • November 21, 2025

    Venezuela, Affiliates Move To Stay Auction Pending Appeal On Alleged Conflicts

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its affiliates on Nov. 20 filed a motion in Delaware federal court for an administrative stay of a pending auction of their assets to satisfy international arbitration awards and bond debts worth more than $22 billion pending their appeal of a judge’s recent order denying a motion to disqualify himself, the court-appointed special master and the special master’s advisers due to alleged conflicts of interest.

  • November 21, 2025

    Tribunal Declines To Sanction Azerbaijan Over Detention Of Dead Investor’s Son

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 20 published a tribunal’s decision in which it denied a request by U.K. investors to sanction Azerbaijan for its “brazen disregard” of the tribunal’s orders that it lift a travel ban on a dead U.K. investor’s son and denied Azerbaijan’s request that it reconsider the order directing it to lift the travel ban.

  • November 19, 2025

    Spain Seeks To Quash Subpoena For Financial Records In 79M Euro ICSID Award Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain on Nov. 18 moved in District of Columbia federal court to quash a subpoena for records of wire transfers involving dozens of Spain-related entities, writing that the motion is a premature and unreasonable effort to enforce a confirmed International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award against Spain worth more than 79.5 million euros.