Domestic and International Arbitration

Representative Matters

Examples of our domestic and international arbitration engagements include the following:

• Lead arbitration counsel for a Canadian general contractor and its Italian parent company in an ICC Arbitration seated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The arbitration involved a contract for the construction of a natural gas pipeline across British Columbia, Canada. The contractor asserted claims for breach of contract, wrongful termination, and quantum meruit. The owner asserted counter-claims against the contractor for breach of contract, negligence, willful misconduct and default. The owner also asserted a breach of contract claim against the Italian parent company under the Parental Guarantee it furnished in connection with the project. The aggregate value of the claims and counter-claims asserted in the arbitration was in excess of CAD $1.5 Billion. The matter involved complex international discovery and data management issues, including strict adherence with the requirements of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation for the production of tens of thousands of documents from the server of the Italian parent company to respond to more than 70 Stern Requests. The matter was scheduled for three weeks of hearings before a three-member ICC Arbitration Panel. The matter was resolved favorably to our clients prior to the commencement of the arbitration hearings.
• Lead trial counsel for a joint-venture general contractor in an arbitration conducted pursuant to the California Office of Administrative Hearings. The contractor asserted claims for breach of contract against a State agency arising out the construction of a multi-billion dollar high-speed rail project in the California Central Valley. Following hearings conducted in San Francisco, California, the three-member Arbitration Panel issued an award favorable to the Contractor. The arbitration award resulted in the contractor’s recovery of damages in excess of $150 million.
• Lead arbitration counsel for a Canadian general contractor in an ICC Arbitration seated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The arbitration involved a contract for the development and construction of a propane dehydrogenation and polypropylene upgrading facility, located in Sturgeon County, Alberta, Canada. The general contractor asserted claims against the Project owner in excess of CAD $50 million for breach of contract for unpaid additional work, delay damages and inefficiencies, and wrongful termination. The owner asserted counter-claims against the general contractor arising out of an alleged default under the contract in amount in excess of CAD $17 million. Following multi-week hearings conducted in Calgary, the three-member ICC Arbitration Panel issued an award favorable to the Contractor, including a full award of costs.
• Lead arbitration counsel for a steel fabricator and supplier based in Thailand in an arbitration conducted pursuant to the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the international division of the American Arbitration Association. The steel was fabricated in Thailand and shipped to the United States for use in the construction of an ethylene cracker plant located outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The steel fabricator/supplier asserted claims for breach of contract against the contractor seeking monetary damages in excess of $5 million for unpaid invoices. The contractor asserted counter-claims for alleged defects in an estimated amount in excess of $20 million. Following the hearings conducted in New York City, the three-member arbitration panel rendered an award favorable to the fabricator/supplier.
• Lead arbitration counsel in three arbitration proceedings filed between 2017 and 2021 arising out of a contractor’s subcontractor default insurance (“SDI”) program.  The contractor claimed breaches of the SDI insurance policies for failure to pay amounts due.  In the first arbitration, the three-member panel found in favor of the contractor and against the SDI insurer and awarded damages of over $16 million.  The other two arbitration proceedings settled after that ruling.
•  Lead trial counsel for HEMP shield subcontractor in successful AAA arbitration resulting in over a million-dollar award on payment and delay claims against national contractor.
• Trial counsel in successful AAA arbitration for national sewer rehabilitation contractor resulting in over a million-dollar award on payment and delay claims against municipality owner.
• Lead counsel for one of the world’s largest multinational engineering and construction companies regarding an offshore oil & gas project dispute. The dispute, which involved subsea flow lines, centered on one of the world’s largest offshore oil and gas projects under a single EPC contract with an initial contract price of over $2.5 billion. The adversary was the national oil company of a South American country. The dispute is subject to ad hoc arbitration under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (1976) before a three member international arbitration panel.
• DFL Legal represented the subcontractor in an ICC arbitration arising out of the design, supply, installation, commissioning, check-out and testing of a two stand reversing mill and equalizing furnace for a flat roll products mini mill in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The subcontractor asserted claims in the aggregate amount of approximately $20 million for unpaid invoices, additional work, and value added tax. In addition, the EPC contractor asserted counterclaims in the amount of approximately $12 million. The arbitral hearings were conducted in Vienna, Austria.
• DFL Legal was lead counsel for an EPC contractor in a series of ICC, AAA and UNCITRAL arbitrations arising out of the engineering, procurement, and construction of a $300 million mini strip mill in Samutprakarn, Thailand. Several months into the project, the owner suspended and eventually terminated the project as a result of its financial difficulties. We represented the EPC contractor as the claimant in an UNCITRAL arbitration against the project owner involving claims for damages arising out of the termination in the approximate amount of $50 million. We also represented the EPC contractor in the defense of claims asserted in numerous international arbitrations in London, England by various subcontractors arising out of the owner’s termination of the project.
• DFL Legal represented the joint developer of an industrial process in a series of arbitrations before the International Chamber of Commerce, Court of Arbitration in Paris, France. The disputes involved the sale of this industrial process for projects located in Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Venezuela, Zambia and Mexico. The claims against our client exceeded US $500 million. After a period of approximately five years, all claims were resolved with a net positive cash flow to our client and a major new contract.