The Cour de cassation’s (the French supreme court) recent ruling could be positive news for litigants lacking the resources to pay the ICC’s advance on costs. Pirelli (Italy) brought arbitration proceedings against Licensing Projects (Spain) (LP) over a trade mark dispute in 2007. Later that year, a Spanish court placed LP into a formal insolvency […]
Can Russian Investors Initiate Arbitration Against Cyprus to Recover their Losses?
Many Russian depositors are facing losses of up to 40 percent in Cyprus, and are currently considering their legal options. Should one of these options be initiating an investment treaty arbitration against Cyprus for expropriation on the basis of the 1997 Russian Federation-Cyprus bilateral investment treaty, which is included here: IAA-Bilateral-Investment-Treaty-Between-Russia-and-Cyprus. Such a claim could most […]
Transparency in International Arbitration
There have been calls for more transparency with respect to international arbitration, which remains poorly understood by the public at large. For an example of such a misunderstanding, one need look no further than the recent French police raids on the homes of three highly-distinguished arbitrators, Denis Bredin, Pierre Estoup and Pierre Mazeaud, in reaction […]
The Impact of the 2012 International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Rules on Multiparty and Multicontract Disputes
The maximum number of parties involved in an ICC arbitration is at least 141, which is the number of parties to an ICC arbitration initiated by 44 member firms of Arthur Andersen’s Business Unit against 97 members firms of Andersen’s Consultant Business Unit. There, the sole arbitrator ruled that he had jurisdiction over all 141 […]
Third-Party Funding Arrives in France
While third-party funding has become commonplace in the United States, Australia, UK and other common law countries, it has only now truly arrived in France. The first wholly French third-party funder, named Alter Litigation, was initiated only weeks ago and its website is available here. It’s founder, Frederic Pelouze, a former attorney, indicates that he […]