Cairn Energy said on Sunday that it had discussed multiple proposals with Indian government officials in recent days in an attempt to find a ‘swift solution’ to a long drawn-out tax dispute with the South Asian nation, Reuters reported.
In December, an arbitration body awarded the British firm damages of $1.2 billion plus interest and costs, after ruling India had breached its obligations to Cairn under the UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty. FE Bureau adds: As reported by FE earlier, the Indian government wants Cairn to settle the dispute using the Vivad se Vishwas scheme.
Read moreAmazon Sellers Attorney, a lawyer-supervised suspension appeal service, announced today that a Washington arbitrator has denied Amazon.com (AMZN) the right to retain a customer’s gift card balance after cancellation of his account. In an arbitration against Amazon Services, LLC brought by Wesley Nahm, the arbitrator awarded over $100,000 in gift card proceeds after Amazon cancelled the buyer’s account. Amazon claimed that it reasonably suspected that Nahm either obtained or applied gift card balances fraudulently, unlawfully, or in violation of the Gift Card Terms. However, Amazon presented no evidence to support its suspicions other than an unusually large balance and the large number of refunded transactions.
Read moreSen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., prodded Robert Cook, CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Thursday in a letter to “conduct a thorough review” of Robinhood’s activities during the GameStop trading frenzy.
In her letter, Warren also asked Cook to explain how FINRA will respond to Robinhood’s role “in recent market volatility, its decision to cut off customers’ trading, and the broader concerns about market fairness that these events represent.”
Read moreSir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court, has announced that the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce of the Lawtech Delivery Panel (now known as Lawtech UK) will launch a public consultation on the introduction of a standard form English law and jurisdiction dispute resolution process and accompanying clause to be included in smart contracts and blockchain engagements.
Read moreThe International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) has released case statistics for 2020 (available here) showing a record number of new cases. While the figures confirm that the Covid-19 pandemic has not so far significantly affected the nature of those disputes, other changes – such as a shift to virtual hearings – are likely to affect investment arbitration in 2021 and beyond.
Read moreLast week, the stock market had its worst week since October, but if you had GameStop stock, you were feeling pretty good. It grew 400 percent, fueled by the Reddit page r/WallStreetBets, where members bought stocks of companies that appeared on the way down, inflating their prices and putting the hedge fund managers who had shorted the stock in a bad position.
Read moreThe Bank of Thailand and the Office of the Court of Justice have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on mediating legal financial disputes for financially-distressed borrowers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Read moreOn January 11, the Court of Appeals of the State of California affirmed the denial of an auto lender’s motion to compel arbitration, concluding that the arbitration clause was invalid and unenforceable. According to the opinion, in May 2019, consumers filed a class action complaint alleging the lenders charged unconscionable interest rates in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA). The company moved to compel arbitration, which the consumers opposed, arguing that the agreement was “procedurally and substantively unconscionable,” and that the California Supreme Court decision in McGill v. Citibank, N.A. (covered by a Buckley Special Alert here, holding that a waiver of the plaintiff’s substantive right to seek public injunctive relief is not enforceable) applied. The trial court denied the motion to compel arbitration, concluding that the McGill rule applied and that the injunctive relief provision could not be severed from the rest of the arbitration agreement because severability did not apply to the class waiver provision.
Read moreA commitment of capital in a foreign state, particularly with long-term profit horizons, can be a risky undertaking. When a host state harms a foreign company's investment, the domestic legal system may not provide an adequate remedy. For example, an investor may not wish to settle disputes before a host state's domestic courts for reasons of (i) fear of bias; or (ii) unfamiliarity with the domestic legal system.
Read moreThe government will develop a new mediation scheme to help farmers under financial stress work with their creditors.
Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett said the scheme would provide a structured negotiation process where a mediator can help farmers and lenders reach formal agreements on debt management.
Read moreIn the recent case of T v W, HCA 366/2020, the Plaintiff had commenced court proceedings against the Defendant for HK$5 million plus interest payable under a post-dated cheque drawn by the Defendant. The Defendant applied to stay the proceedings to arbitration, relying on the arbitration clause in the Loan Agreement that referred to the cheque. The Court dismissed the application for a stay, holding that the Plaintiff’s claim was on the cheque and that the cause of action on a cheque is separate to the cause of action on the underlying contract. It said that there must be a “plain manifestation” in an arbitration clause that it is to apply to bills of exchange, before the presumption against taking bills of exchange into arbitration is to be rebutted. The Court was not satisfied that the arbitration clause in the Loan Agreement could be construed to extend to the claims made under the cheque, which it considered to be a separate agreement.
Read moreThe Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is reportedly working out a draft scheme on "pre-packaged" resolution for corporate entities in coordination with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).
It is a newer method of corporate resolution that involves an agreement between the company, its creditors and prospective buyers before the initiation of insolvency proceedings. Let's take you through its finer points, shall we?
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