Helene Gogadze

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The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has released its 2018 caseload statistics.  In 2018 ICSID registered a record 56 new cases, as compared to 53 cases registered in 2017.  Since the first case in 1972 ICSID has registered 706 cases in total.

The new cases are concentrated in few sectors, with disputes in the oil, gas and mining sector accounting for 21% of cases registered in 2018, followed by electric power and other energy sources at 20% and construction at 14%.
Continue Reading ICSID 2018 Caseload Reflects Continued Uptick of Investor-State Arbitrations

The International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945  (“IOIA”) grants international organizations such as the World Bank and the World Health Organization the “same immunity from suit and every form or judicial process as is enjoyed by foreign governments.”  However, at the time the IOIA was enacted, foreign governments enjoyed virtually absolute immunity from suit, while that immunity is more limited today.  So, what is the meaning of “is” in the IOIA?  Does IOIA grant international organizations the virtually absolute immunity that foreign governments enjoyed when the IOIA was enacted, or the more restricted immunity they enjoy today?  
Continue Reading The US Supreme Court Finds that International Organizations’ Immunity Is On Par With That of Foreign Governments

In the United States, parties may agree in their contract not only to submit future disputes to arbitration but to also submit “arbitrability” questions to an arbitrator.  In practice, such delegation (if properly made) means that the tribunal, instead of the court, would decide not only the merits of the parties’ dispute but also the threshold arbitrability questions that may arise, such as whether the parties have agreed to arbitrate or whether their arbitration agreement applies to and covers the particular dispute between the parties. 
Continue Reading The U.S. Supreme Court Opines on Arbitrability