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Mealey's International Arbitration

  • October 24, 2025

    Dutch Supreme Court Rejects Russia’s Appeal Of $65B Yukos Oil Award

    THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Dutch Supreme Court rejected a set-aside application filed by the Russian Federation in its long-running attempt to set aside a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) award now worth more than $65 billion for the expropriation of an oil company that was driven into bankruptcy for political reasons and which has been described as the largest award in the history of international arbitration.

  • October 24, 2025

    Split Panel Affirms Denial Of Arbitration In German Discovery Dispute

    PHILADELPHIA — Addressing a question of first impression, a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an order denying a bid by third-party litigation funders to compel arbitration of an application for discovery for use in Germany because the discovery application does not qualify as a “civil action” under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), while a dissenting judge said the case should be remanded for a “second look.”

  • October 23, 2025

    U.K. Supreme Court Affirms 44.2M British Pounds Attorney Fees Award To Nigeria

    LONDON — The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on Oct. 22 ruled that an Irish-owned company ordered to pay attorney fees to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the costs it incurred obtaining the set-aside of an arbitral award worth more than $11 billion due to “fraud” was properly ordered to pay the more than 44.2 million pound award of fees and costs in British currency, not Nigerian naira.

  • October 22, 2025

    Judge Orders Plaintiffs Suing Canadian ‘Gambling’ Websites To Arbitration

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Oct. 21 granted a motion to compel arbitration filed by a group of Canadian gaming website developers and operators facing claims that they deceived consumers into signing up for “free” gaming websites and addicting them into losing money through illegal gambling, after finding that the arbitration agreement is enforceable under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention).

  • October 22, 2025

    Judge Orders Discovery After N.J. Company Raises Forgery Defense To $545K Award

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied a New Jersey company’s motion to dismiss a petition to confirm a China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) award against it worth more than $545,000 for failure to make payments on purchases of clothing from a Chinese company but did not rule on the Chinese petitioner’s cross-motion to confirm and instead ordered discovery into the debtor’s defense that the sales contracts at issue were forged.

  • October 21, 2025

    Split Tribunal Says Spain Owes Investors 262M Euros After Resubmission

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than five years after an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ad hoc committee annulled an award worth more than 128 million euros against Spain in favor of two European renewable energy investors due to an arbitrator’s “manifest appearance of bias,” a divided tribunal found that Spain breached the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and awarded the investors more than twice as much in damages.

  • October 20, 2025

    Portuguese Investor Tells ICSID Seizure Of Turbines Caused $157M In Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Oct. 17 published a Portuguese investor’s statement of claim asserting that he is entitled to potentially more than $157 million in damages against the Republic of Angola for its alleged expropriation of his investment in four turbines.

  • October 17, 2025

    Insurers, New Orleans Property Owners Settle $7M Hurricane Claim

    NEW ORLEANS — A group of foreign and domestic insurers and two New Orleans property owners jointly moved in Louisiana federal court to dismiss with prejudice the property owners’ claims for bad faith and for payment of approximately $7 million in damages to their properties caused by Hurricane Ida under surplus line insurance policies, after the court vacated a prior order compelling arbitration following a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling on the arbitrability of insurance claims.

  • October 16, 2025

    ICSID Publishes Award Rejecting Dutch Company’s Claims Against Romania

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than a year after it was issued, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Oct. 15 published a partly redacted award in which a tribunal criticized Romania for refusing to pay advance fees, defying a provisional measures recommendation and making “offensive” attacks about an investor who died after being imprisoned in Romania, but nonetheless rejected on the merits a Dutch company’s claims against it for breach of a bilateral investment treaty (BIT).

  • October 15, 2025

    Mexican Bank Ex-Employees Must Pay $186K For Breach Of Arbitration Agreements

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted two petitions to confirm International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) awards against two former employees of two financial entities in Mexico City for filing civil litigation against their former employers in breach of mandatory arbitration clauses, thereby requiring the employees to separately pay more than $179,000 and $7,000 in attorney fees and arbitration costs.

  • October 14, 2025

    Venezuela Wants Special Master Removed From Oil Auction After $5.8B Bid Favored

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and state-owned entities filed a redacted brief on Oct. 13 in Delaware federal court to disqualify the special master overseeing an auction of Venezuelan oil shares to satisfy confirmed international arbitration awards and civil judgments against Venezuela worth billions of dollars, alleging a conflict of interest between the special master and the hedge fund whose bid the master recommended.

  • October 13, 2025

    Indian Companies, Investors Tee Up New Arguments After High Court Remand

    SAN FRANCISCO — On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, an Indian state-owned company, a liquidated Indian satellite company that previously won an arbitral award worth more than $1.3 billion and the satellite company’s shareholders separately filed supplemental briefs to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals regarding the issues that remain to be adjudicated after the high court reversed the en banc Ninth Circuit’s finding of no jurisdiction over the suit.

  • October 10, 2025

    Tribunal Denies Mexico’s Request To Bifurcate British-Chinese Mining Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s order denying the United Mexican States’ request to bifurcate claims brought against it by British and Chinese lithium mining investors for breach of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with both countries, opining that doing so would not be efficient because only some jurisdictional objections are potentially dispositive and others would need to be examined with the merits.

  • October 09, 2025

    Tribunal Orders Azerbaijan To Let Dead Investor’s Son Leave Country

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published decisions by a tribunal hearing claims brought against Azerbaijan for harming investments belonging to the estate of a deceased U.K. national and three U.K. national-controlled Azerbaijani companies, separately ordering Azerbaijan to lift a travel ban on the dead investor’s son and denying its request to bifurcate the dispute.

  • October 08, 2025

    Honeywell Defends Award Against Mexican Company For $33M Plus $20M In Fees

    NEW YORK — Honeywell International Inc. and its subsidiary filed a cross-motion in New York federal court to confirm an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award worth more than $53 million including $20.9 million in attorney fees and costs against a Mexican construction company that has petitioned for vacatur, arguing that the award “is more than adequately reasoned” and that no grounds for vacatur apply.

  • October 07, 2025

    Tribunal Slashes $30M From Award Against Argentina For Road Contract

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Oct. 6 published a tribunal’s decision granting the Argentine Republic’s request to rectify a previously issued award ordering it to pay an Italian company more than $152 million for breach of an infrastructure concession contract and reduce the damages awarded by more than $30 million.

  • October 06, 2025

    Tribunal Finds Kenyan Company’s Claims Over Work At Embassy ‘Without Merit’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Oct. 3 published a tribunal’s award dismissing all claims brought by a Kenyan construction company against the United Arab Emirates for breach of a bilateral investment treaty (BIT), finding no jurisdiction over claims that arose out of projects at a UAE embassy and opining that the claims are “without merit.”

  • October 06, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Vacates Confirmation Of $136M Award Against India

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 3 vacated the confirmation of 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, opining that the lower court erred by deciding to resolve the case on the merits after India had raised only jurisdictional defenses.

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Seeks U.S. Views On Spain’s Petition Over Intra-EU Arbitrations

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 invited the solicitor general of the United States to file a brief “expressing the views of the United States” on the Kingdom of Spain’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling holding that federal courts have jurisdiction over petitions to confirm intra-EU arbitral awards against Spain that are unenforceable in the European Union.

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Denies Indian Company’s Bid To Modify Ruling In $1.3B Arbitral Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied an Indian state-owned company’s motion to modify an opinion in which it unanimously reversed a ruling by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found no jurisdiction over an action to confirm a $1.3 billion arbitral award against the company, which asked the court to modify dicta regarding its financing by the government of India.

  • October 01, 2025

    Tribunal Grants Georgia’s Request To Bifurcate Railway Dispute Objections

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Sept. 30 published a tribunal’s order granting Georgia’s request to bifurcate its jurisdictional objections to claims brought against it by a U.S. businessman and his Georgian company, finding that it would improve efficiency to determine in a preliminary phase whether the businessman can claim rights as a U.S. citizen and whether he can bring claims related to an investment that his wife owned.

  • October 01, 2025

    290.6M Euro Award Against Spain Confirmed By Judge

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 30 granted summary judgment and confirmed an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth more than 290.6 million euros in favor of two Dutch renewable energy investors against the Kingdom of Spain, while Spain’s petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a jurisdictional ruling in the case remains pending.

  • September 30, 2025

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment In 41M Euro Award Petition Against Spain

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 29 confirmed an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award worth more than 41 million euros in favor of a renewable energy investor after granting its motion for summary judgment against the Kingdom of Spain, while Spain’s petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding jurisdiction remains pending.

  • September 29, 2025

    Judge Sets Aside Default, But Still Confirms $1B Oil Award Against Venezuela

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 26 granted the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s motion to set aside a clerk’s default against it, then granted a motion for summary judgment filed by three Exxon Mobil entities and confirmed an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award worth roughly $1 billion against Venezuela for the expropriation of oil investments.

  • September 26, 2025

    High Court Grants Mining Investors Extension In $50M Zimbabwe Arbitral Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted two Mauritian mining investors’ application for a two-month extension of their deadline to file a petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that jurisdiction did not exist 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 a Zimbabwean mining regulator.