The case of the day is Edwards v. Federal Government of Nigeria (D. Mass. 2018). In 2013, hundreds of local governments in Nigeria sued the Nigerian federal government and three federal officials in the Federal High Court, seeking “to recover money allegedly owed to them.” Dr. Ted Iseghohi Edwards claimed that he was a consultant to the plaintiffs. the High Court entered a judgment in the local governments’ favor for more than $3 billion.
The case of the day is Process and Industrial Developments Ltd. v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (D.D.C. 2018). P&ID sought confirmation of an arbitral award against Nigeria and its Ministry of Petroleum Resources. On P&ID’s motion, the court had set a briefing schedule that required Nigeria to respond to the petition for confirmation with all of its jurisdictional and substantive defenses. Nigeria moved to dismiss on grounds of foreign sovereign immunity. P&ID complained to the court that Nigeria had only sought dismissal on jurisdictional grounds. The judge agreed and ordered Nigeria to plead all of its jurisdictional and substantive defenses, and Nigeria took an interlocutory appeal.
The case of the day is Brittania-U Nigeria, Ltd. v. Chevron USA, Inc. (5th Cir. 2017). Brittania-U (the double-T is how it spells its name) sued Chevron USA, Ali Moshiri, and Moncef Attia in the Texas state courts. The claim was that Chevron Nigeria, a division of Chevron USA, had invited bids for the sale of its interest in Nigerian oil mining leases. Attia, who worked for BNP Paribas (Chevron’s advisor in the bidding process), invited Brittania-U to participate, and Moshri, a Chevron employee, was involved in the negotiations. Brittania-U and Chevron had signed a confidentiality agreement that contained an agreement to arbitrate disputes in London under the UNCITRAL Rules. Brittania-U alleged that it had submitted the high bid but had not won the…
Tagged: arbitration, FAA, New York Convention, Nigeria