In Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. v. Cypress Semiconductor Corp., No. 22-mc-80313-VKD, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97717 (N.D. Cal. June 5, 2023), the court ruled that arbitration was proper for the parties. The court found that the parties’ arbitration clause clearly delegated power to the arbitrators to decide on the question of arbitrability, and thus, it was…
Large arbitral awards have generally given rise to multi-jurisdictional post-award litigation (see Yukos). The Deutsche Telekom v India saga is a similar instance, with the Republic of India (“India”) having challenged the arbitral awards before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“seat court”) and the courts in Germany, Singapore, and the United States (“US”) (“enforcement courts”)….
In a recent case, FCM Investments LLC v. Grove Pham LLC (“FCM v. Grove Pham”), the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One (the “Court”) vacated an arbitral award based on a “reasonable perception of possible bias” of a sole arbitrator towards a party who chose to testify using an interpreter. Though FCM…
Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd., 142 S. Ct. 2078 (June 13, 2022), certain Circuits permitted parties to private international commercial arbitrations to avail themselves of U.S. discovery proceedings via 28 U.S.C. §1782 (“§1782” or “Section 1782”). The Supreme Court’s decision in ZF Automotive removed that option….
On June 30, 2020, an era of international investment law and dispute resolution came to an end as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) concluded its 27-year tenure with the entry into force of United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA). Three years later, a further milestone is now marked: today, Canada, which…
In an important decision upholding the finality of awards and party autonomy in international commercial arbitration, a divided three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently held in Compañía de Inversiones Mercantiles SA v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua SAB de CV (58 F.4th 429 (10th Cir. 2023)) that recognition of…
A dual webinar series “Do You Know What Your Neighbour is Doing?” (available at links here and here) recently hosted by Dentons provided an overview of how to navigate international arbitration in the United States (“US”) and Canada. The first webinar was moderated by Rachel Howie, FCIArb (Calgary). It featured three panelists who discussed international…
Kluwer Arbitration Blog has given ample attention over the years to 28 U.S.C. § 1782—the US federal statute authorizing federal district courts to order individuals and entities within their districts to provide evidence to “interested person[s]” for use “in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal.” (see, for example, here, here, here, here, and here). …
“If they can’t do it in California, it can’t be done anywhere.” – Novelist Taylor Caldwell From its sunlit beaches to its fog-spangled hills, California hosts the world’s fifth largest economy, boasting among its accomplishments Hollywood entertainment, Silicon Valley technology, and Central Valley agricultural produce. In addition to its strong trade ties within the…
On November 16, 2021, during New York Arbitration Week 2021, several committees of the New York City Bar Association hosted a panel discussion entitled “Dispelling Myths: Enforcement of Latin American Arbitration Awards in the United States and U.S. Arbitration Awards in Latin America,” which focused on enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in the United States,…
In CLMS Mgmt. Servs. et al. v. Amwins Brokerage et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit considered whether a state law (by operation of the federal McCarran-Ferguson Act, which gives states the authority to regulate the business of insurance) voiding arbitration agreements in insurance contracts reverse-preempted Article II, Section 3 of…
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), known only as “RBG” in many circles, was a native of Brooklyn, New York and only the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. Her passing in September 2020, at the age of 87, left a gaping hole in the international community. She was widely…
Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the “Third Circuit” or the “Court”) addressed what it referred to as a “mind-bending” and “seemingly circular” question “dubbed ‘the queen of all threshold issues’ in arbitration law:” whether a court or arbitrator(s) decides if an agreement exists when the alleged agreement itself “includes an…
Day three of Hong Kong Arbitration Week 2020 featured, as part of the ADR in Asia Conference, a panel session on US-China relations and the challenges and opportunities that arise out of that relationship. The session was chaired and moderated by Mr Peter Yuen of Fangda Partners. Mr Yuen was joined by a diverse group…
In a recent opinion, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed its prior decisions that the Federal Arbitration Act’s domestic provision on vacatur does not apply to international awards. In Earth Science Tech Inc. v. Impact UA, No. 19-10118, 2020 WL 1861402 (11th Cir. April 14, 2020) (unpublished), the Court specifically held that an international…
Awards are final—mostly. Many institutional rules allow arbitrators to correct clerical errors in their awards, but prohibit revisions to the merits of their decisions. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit signaled in a recent case that it will defer to arbitrators in interpreting institutional rules regarding the scope of their correction authority,…
How severely are international construction projects affected by global COVID-19 pandemic? What does the COVID-19 pandemic mean for international construction disputes? As with so many other questions arising in relation to the pandemic, these questions will only be answered definitively in retrospect. For construction arbitration practitioners though, one of the immediate and graspable effects has…
On June 1, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA. The Court held that the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”) does not prohibit a Contracting State from applying the domestic law doctrine…
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns have the legal community debating and exploring force majeure. That, however, does not rule out the imminent likelihood of international arbitration locking horns with domestic insolvency law. Arbitration agreements and subsequent awards may possibly be left redundant and award-holders remediless where insolvency proceedings are commenced in respect of…
After the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) rendered the Achmea decision, heated discussions on its impact ensued. Particularly, the concern raised on whether the ICSID proceeding provided for in intra-EU BITs and intra-EU disputes under the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) would be valid. Several arbitral tribunals and national courts have dealt with…
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (“BRI”) is well known as the largest infrastructure construction program in world history.1)This post is expressed as Michael J. Bond’s personal opinion and does not represent the views of any organization or party. President Xi Jinping announced its two components in 2013; one is a land-based Silk Road Economic Belt…
Mr. Martinez, thank you for joining us on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog! I am thrilled to have this opportunity to share with our readers your perspectives and to highlight interesting initiatives undertaken by the American Arbitration Association’s (AAA’s) International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). Before we delve in, would you please briefly introduce…
2019 was an important year for international arbitration developments in the United States, both in the commercial and investment context. Some of the more far-reaching developments included the deepening circuit court split on whether “manifest disregard” of the law is a grounds to refuse enforcement of an award, the first U.S. Court of Appeals decision…
Introduction The United States, Mexico, and Canada renegotiated the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2018. As a result of these renegotiations, the parties agreed on new terms to formulate “NAFTA 2.0” or the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in the United States, the CUSMA in Canada and, the T-MEC in Mexico. The USMCA aims…
