Law360: 5 International Arbitration Cases To Watch In 2024

Eversheds Sutherland Partner Will O’Brien is quoted in this Law360 article discussing international arbitration cases to keep an eye on in 2024. In particular, Will addressed Grupo Unidos por el Canal SA request for the Supreme Court to review an Eleventh Circuit decision refusing to vacate $285 million in arbitral awards issued to the operator of the Panama Canal in a contentious dispute over a multibillion-dollar project to expand the famous waterway.

But Grupo Unidos may face an uphill battle in convincing the Supreme Court to vacate the award, according to Will. He said he'll be surprised if the justices decide to disturb the Eleventh Circuit's opinion.

"The message from the courts in these cases [has been] that you have to have substantial evidence of improper business dealings or improper relationships that give rise to the appearance of partiality," he said. "If you have business transactions that are between the tribunal and the participants or counsel that were not disclosed, if you have family relationships, if you really have proof that the tribunal and participants are intertwined, that's going to give rise to a violation of impartiality."

"But it's not going to be enough, when we're talking about the kind of day-to-day contacts that happen within the international arbitration community all the time, to give rise to evident partiality," he continued.

 

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Publication: Law360