Topic: Arbitrator challenges

Germany has for a second time applied to disqualify all three members of the ICSID tribunal hearing a €4.7 billion claim by Swedish power company Vattenfall over the country’s phase-out of nuclear energy.

20 April 2020

A French court has upheld five partial awards in an LCIA-administered arbitration between Brazilian partners in an offshore oil block – while finding that an arbitrator should have disclosed his ties to a Canadian law firm that acted for the majority shareholders of one of the parties.

17 April 2020

Spain has applied to disqualify Argentine arbitrator Guido Tawil from hearing one of the many claims it faces over renewable energy reforms – citing his repeat appointments by investors in such cases and his dissent from decisions where the state has escaped liability.

03 April 2020

Spain has failed in another bid to disqualify UK arbitrator Peter Rees from hearing an Energy Charter Treaty claim over the state’s renewable energy reforms, based on his successful removal by the European Union in another ECT case.

17 February 2020

Swedish arbitrator Kaj Hobér has been disqualified from hearing a €53 million Energy Charter Treaty claim against Spain, following a challenge based on his dissent in another case over the state's renewable energy reform.

15 January 2020

A UK oil and gas company has challenged French arbitrator Brigitte Stern in an ICSID claim against Egypt, alleging she refused to disclose information about her own company and links to Egyptian institutions.

13 December 2019

Uría Menéndez partner Gabriel Bottini has survived an attempt to disqualify him from an ICSID annulment committee on the ground that he was not candid about the extent of his counsel work for the Argentine government when challenged in a prior ICSID case seven years ago.

31 October 2019

A US appeals court has vacated a sole arbitrator’s award on the basis that he failed to disclose his ownership interest in the arbitral institution that administered the dispute – a precedent that a dissenting judge warns is likely to generate “endless litigation” in other cases.

24 October 2019

Former Covington & Burling partner Oscar Garibaldi has been disqualified from sitting as arbitrator in an investment treaty case against Venezuela following a challenge over his past counsel work for parties adverse to the state.

22 July 2019

Cameroon has failed in a bid to dislodge Argentine arbitrator Horacio Grigera Naón as tribunal chair in a long-running ICC arbitration on the grounds of his failure to disclose repeated appointments by private parties in disputes involving states or state entities.

25 June 2019