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Mealey's International Arbitration

  • June 09, 2025

    EU Amici Tell High Court Intra-EU Arbitration Cases Incentivize Forum Shopping

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three European Union member-states and the European Commission (EC) filed amicus curiae briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the Kingdom of Spain’s challenge to the ruling that a U.S. district court has jurisdiction over petitions to confirm intra-EU arbitration awards against it, which are unenforceable in the EU under EU law, with the EC writing that the progress of such cases in the U.S. threatens the “integrity of the EU legal system.”

  • June 05, 2025

    High Court Reverses 9th Circuit In $1.3B Arbitral Dispute Over Indian Satellite

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 5 unanimously reversed a ruling by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that reversed the confirmation of a $1.3 billion arbitral award in favor of an Indian company on jurisdictional grounds, finding that the Ninth Circuit’s precedent requiring a minimum contacts analysis under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) was incorrect.

  • June 03, 2025

    Judge Compels Arbitration Of Dispute Over Bulgarian Company’s Casino Games

    MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on June 2 granted a motion to compel arbitration in Bulgaria of a contract dispute between a Florida entity and a Bulgarian company that sold it electronic gambling and casino game machines after finding that all of the disputes arise out of the parties’ contracts and none of the Florida entity’s defenses to arbitration has merit.

  • June 02, 2025

    Judge Grants Venezuela’s Motion To Extend Bidding Period For Oil Shares Auction

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The judge overseeing the planned auction of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s oil shares in Delaware federal court to satisfy confirmed arbitral awards and civil judgments worth billions of dollars on May 30 granted a motion by Venezuela and affiliates to extend the “topping period” by 21 days to allow “new groups of bidders” to participate, with a sale hearing in the long-running case set for the end of July.

  • May 30, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Denies Quick Dismissal Of Russia’s Appeal In $34M Crimean Award Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 29 denied 11 Ukrainian companies’ motion for summary affirmance and to dismiss an appeal by the Russian Federation of a lower court’s finding of jurisdiction over it under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in a petition to confirm a more than $34 million arbitral award against it for seizing Crimean assets.

  • May 29, 2025

    5th Circuit Dismisses Appeal Of Compelled Arbitration With Foreign Insurers

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a hotel owner’s appeal challenging an order compelling it to arbitrate a dispute over a fire insurance claim with a group of insurers, including two foreign entities, that the appellant said contradicts state law, with the panel writing that the order was not final or appealable.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Defers Lima Motion To Vacate $198M Judgment Over Alleged Foley Hoag Conflict

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on May 22 deferred ruling on Lima, Peru’s motion to vacate a more than $198 million judgment against it based on new arguments that its former counsel, Foley Hoag LLP, was conflicted due to simultaneously representing a stakeholder in the adverse contractor without disclosing that fact to the city, citing a pending appeal in the case.

  • May 22, 2025

    Judge Compels Arbitration Of Suit Against ‘Social’ Gambling Site Operator

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on May 21 granted a Cypriot gambling website operator’s motion to compel arbitration of claims brought against it by a man with a gambling addiction who alleges that the website is operated in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA).

  • May 22, 2025

    Discovery Against Singaporean Company In Arbitral Row May Proceed, Judge Says

    WILMINGTON, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge denied motions by a Singaporean biosciences company and an affiliated doctor to vacate subpoenas to aid a foreign legal action brought against the company by Novo Nordisk A/S in a dispute over alleged misrepresentations regarding the effectiveness of a hypertension drug, rejecting the bioscience company’s arguments that the subpoenas were a “pretext” to improperly obtain discovery for a pending international arbitration between the parties.

  • May 20, 2025

    Magistrate Recommends Confirming $200K Award Against Baby Goods Seller

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge on May 19 recommended granting default judgment in favor of a Hong Kong company seeking to confirm a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) award worth more than $200,000 against a California woman and her company, which sold retractable baby pacifier clips, for failure to make payments required under a contract for future receivables.

  • May 15, 2025

    Tribunal Partly Bifurcates $303M Claim Against Mexico For Railway Contract

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on May 14 published a tribunal’s decision granting in part and denying in part the United Mexican States’ request to bifurcate a claim brought against it by an American investor for violating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by allegedly rescinding a railway concession agreement without compensation.

  • May 15, 2025

    Tribunal Awards $152M In Damages, Attorney Fees For Argentina Road Contract

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal that previously found the Argentine Republic liable for breach of an infrastructure concession contract with a consortium including an Italian company issued its award on damages, attorney fees, costs and interest, in which it ordered Argentina to pay the company more than $152 million.

  • May 14, 2025

    $4.6M Final Judgment Entered Against Debtors Who ‘Fled’ China To Avoid Award

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge entered a final judgment worth more than $4.6 million in favor of a Chinese lender and against four Chinese citizens currently residing in California who were found liable by the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) as backers to a defaulted business loan, despite allegedly repaying the entire principal amount to the lender.

  • May 14, 2025

    Venezuela Moves To Set Aside Default In $1B Oil Award Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela filed a motion in District of Columbia federal court to set aside a clerk’s default against it in a November 2023 lawsuit filed by three Exxon Mobil entities seeking to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth roughly $1 billion for the expropriation of their oil investments.

  • May 14, 2025

    Panel Finds Rabbinical Tribunal’s Award Proper Under New York Convention

    LOS ANGELES — A Second District California Court of Appeal Division 5 panel affirmed a state court ruling affirming a rabbinical arbitral tribunal’s award in favor of an American businessman and rejected arguments by an Israeli businessman and his business that the arbitration was improper under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

  • May 13, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Award Terminating Sandwich Shop’s Russian Franchise

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 12 affirmed the confirmation of arbitral awards, holding that a franchisor that operated Subway sandwich shops in Russia cannot renew its franchise license issued by franchise operator Subway International B.V. (SIBV) and that the parties’ agreement was effectively terminated in 2020.

  • May 13, 2025

    Judge Cites Estoppel, Won’t Vacate Arbitration Order In Hurricane Ida Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge on May 12 denied a motion to vacate a prior order sending a dispute over an insurance claim for damages from Hurricane Ida to arbitration despite new Louisiana Supreme Court precedent on the issue, citing federal equitable estoppel principles and the fact that the insureds allege that their domestic and foreign insurers engaged in “concerted and interdependent conduct.”

  • May 12, 2025

    Shareholders To Intervene After Reed Smith Ordered To Share Docs In Shipping Row

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on May 9 granted a motion by the shareholders of two Liberian shipping companies to intervene in litigation over whether a JAMS arbitral award in their favor worth more than $102 million was procured by fraud, shortly after the court ordered the companies’ prior law firm, Reed Smith LLP, to turn over documents to the new counsel of the companies, which Reed Smith had argued is under new ownership and no longer adverse to the award-debtor.

  • May 09, 2025

    2nd Circuit Abrogates Precedent On Reverse-Preemption In $12.5M Hurricane Ida Row

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 8 abrogated its own precedent holding that an international convention regarding arbitration of foreign disputes is “not self-executing” and can be reverse-preempted by state law and reversed the denials of motions to compel arbitration of surplus line policy disputes for more than $12.5 million in damages caused to Louisiana properties by Hurricane Ida.

  • May 07, 2025

    Judge Finds Ex-Claimants Jointly Liable To Nicaragua For $1.5M ICSID Award

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a motion by the Republic of Nicaragua for partial summary judgment, opining that claimants who were ordered by a tribunal to pay Nicaragua $1.5 million in attorney fees and costs after their treaty-based claims against it were rejected are jointly and severally liable for paying that amount.

  • May 06, 2025

    Spain Asks High Court To Resolve Circuit Splits In Intra-EU Arbitration Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve two circuit splits as it opposes petitions to confirm arbitral awards against it worth 358 million euros issued in favor of investors residing in fellow EU member-states, arguing that the finding of jurisdiction over the petitions was based on mistaken rulings regarding arbitrability and forum non conveniens.

  • April 30, 2025

    English Judge Says India Didn’t Waive Immunity In 195M Euro Award Dispute

    LONDON — A judge of the High Court of England and Wales addressing a preliminary legal question in a case in which Mauritian investors seek to enforce a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) award worth more than 195 million euros against the Republic of India rejected the investors’ arguments that India waived its right to state immunity by entering the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention).

  • April 29, 2025

    Tribunal Won’t Clarify Jurisdiction, Liability Findings Against Mexico

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on April 28 published a tribunal’s decision denying the United Mexican States’ request to clarify the tribunal’s previous decision finding jurisdiction over three Texas-based oil companies’ claims and finding Mexico liable for breaching the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by rescinding the companies’ oil drilling contract.

  • April 23, 2025

    Sanctions Ordered For Noncompliance With Awards In Telecommunications Row

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on April 22 granted a motion for civil contempt sanctions against the majority shareholders of a Latin American telecommunications company for their ongoing failure to comply with five partial awards issued against them in an ongoing arbitration with the company’s minority shareholders.

  • April 23, 2025

    Nigeria, Chinese Entity Dismiss Settled Dispute Over Arbitral Award

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge entered a minute order dismissing a lawsuit filed by a Chinese company seeking to confirm an arbitral award in its favor worth more than $70 million against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, following a settlement and Nigeria’s dismissal of its petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the finding that it waived its sovereign immunity from suit.