Recognizing Governments, Recognition of Arbitral Awards
A company based in Barbados won an arbitral award against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (“Venezuela”) and petitioned to have it recognized and enforced in federal court in the United States. Venezuela objected on the ground that the arbitral panel allowed the Maduro regime to replace the lawyers that represented Venezuela – even though Maduro…
Continue ReadingThe FSIA and Agreements to Aribtrate
The enforcement of foreign arbitral awards has led to contested questions about personal jurisdiction, about the scope ofthe arbitration exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), and about the relationship between that exception and the New York Convention. A new case from the D.C. Circuit, Global Voice v. Republic of Guinea considers the scope…
Continue ReadingNational Security Concerns as a “Burden” in Discovery Disputes
How should U.S. national security concerns be weighed in discovery disputes in cases that do not directly involve the U.S. government? That question is under consideration in Pao Taftneft v. Ukraine, a case currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in which Russian investors seek to enforce a foreign arbitral award…
Continue ReadingImmunity, Consent, and Arbitration Treaties
If a state agrees to arbitrate a dispute with a private party – through, for example, the operation of a bilateral investment treaty – and then loses the arbitration, has it waived its immunity in a suit to enforce the resulting judgment if it is a party to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement…
Continue ReadingNinth Circuit Creates Split on Serving Motion to Confirm Arbitration Award
How does one serve process to confirm an arbitral award on parties outside the United States? The answer turns out to be quite complicated. In Voltage Pictures LLC v. Gussi S.A. de C.V., the Ninth Circuit charted a careful path through the maze of interactions between the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and the Federal Rules…
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