Overview
First Tuesday Update is our monthly take on current issues in commercial disputes, international arbitration, and judgment enforcement. This month, we highlight the success of our colleagues Matthew Coleman and Thomas Innes in representing the Claimants in the case of Bernhard von Pezold and Others v. Zimbabwe, ICSID Case No. ARB/10/15. In 2015, an ICSID tribunal found for the Claimants and ordered Zimbabwe to pay damages of US$195 million plus interest and costs for expropriation of property. On November 21, 2018, an Annulment Committee dismissed Zimbabwe's application to annul the award.
The annulment decision is the first ICSID annulment decision to hold that parties do not have a right to an unlimited opportunity to be heard (although this will be no surprise to practitioners). It is also the first decision to hold that the annulment application must specifically refer to which of the five grounds of annulment in Article 52 of the ICSID Convention is being invoked by the applicant; it is not enough to merely plead facts in the annulment application and at a later date invoke one of those grounds.
A hallmark of Steptoe's practice for more than half a century has been effectively resolving international disputes for our clients. Our worldwide Arbitration & Dispute Resolution Group brings together the firm's established practices in public international law, cross-border litigation, international commercial arbitration, and investor-state disputes, as well as enforcement of arbitral awards and judgments, including against foreign sovereigns.
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