Recent Posts

Ecuador’s violation of what I have called the “Effective Means” Clause of the US-Ecuador BIT (Art. II(7)) meant that Chevron-Texaco was entitled to recover the damages, if any, proximately caused by the non-adjudication of its breach of contract claims in the courts of Ecuador for an unreasonably long period of time. The teams of American counsel squared off against one another could readily agree that the venerable Chorzow Factory case provided the classical formulation of the measure of damages for breach of an obligation imposed by international law: in a phrase, “restitutio in integrum.” Applying the standard of putting the…
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Dear Readers My general website carries a commentary on an important new decision of the federal district court in Manhattan permitting attachment and execution against funds of the Argentine Central Bank at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, to satisfy bondholders’ judgments against the Republic of Argentina. Click through to my general website at the bottom of this window. Kind regards. Marc Goldstein

Readers of Arbitration Commentaries may generally rely upon its principal author to read cases from beginning to end before reporting upon them in this corner of Cyberspace. But whereas the Arbitral Tribunal in Chevron-Texaco v. Republic of Ecuador has seen fit to deliver a Partial Award on the Merits that runs to 265 pages, it is hoped that you will gratefully receive this interim report (based upon reading up to page 134 of the Partial Award) together with a promise that there will be more to come.( Here is a link to the full text of the Partial Award: http://ita.law.uvic.ca/documents/ChevronTexacoEcuadorPartialAward.PDF)…
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I briefly note here two recent cases in the federal district court in Washington, D.C., in which the judges refused to grant foreign governments stays of enforcement of awards against them, under Article VI of the New York Convention, based on proceedings pending in foreign courts to set aside the awards. (G.E. Transport S.P.A. v. Republic of Albania, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24180 (D.D.C. Mar. 16, 2010); Continental Transfert Technique Ltd. v. Federal Government of Nigeria, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27336 (D.D.C. Mar. 23, 2010). Each decision relies upon the leading U.S. case elaborating standards governing the exercise of discretion…
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Dear Readers: At my general website, I have introduced a new dimension entitled Counsel Culture Corner. There you will find current listings for the performing arts and artists’ exhibitions in leading arbitral venues — at this time New York, Paris, London, Hong Kong and Toronto. These pages also contain links to key arbitral resources of each jurisdiction –generally the governing arbitration statutes and the websites of the leading international arbitral institutions situated in those venues. You are invited to visit Counsel Culture Corner…. and to submit your recommendations for updates to the listings! Warm regards. Marc Goldstein

Dear Readers: At my general website, you will find commentaries on two recent federal court cases involving efforts by offshore hedge funds to use the arbitration mechanism of the Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to recover losses sustained on credit default swaps. To reach the website, click on the link at the bottom of this window. Warm wishes. Marc Goldstein