Bridgestone V. Panama

Global Legal Chronicle | 27 November 2020

Bridgestone V. Panama

by Ambrogio Visconti

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP advised the Republic of Panama on the deal.

The Republic of Panama won against a $20 million plus arbitration claim filed by US subsidiaries of Bridgestone Corporation under the US-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement.

In its August 14, 2020 award, a tribunal at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) dismissed the claim on the merits in its entirety and awarded reimbursement to Panama of $6.9 million in costs of the arbitration and of its defense.

According to the tribunal, the arbitration “put in issue the competence and integrity of the Supreme Court of Panama” in a Panamanian proceeding in which Bridgestone claimed it had been denied justice.

The Arnold & Porter team demonstrated that the Bridgestone claimants had not been denied justice. In fact, the tribunal found that Bridgestone had “over-reacted” to a loss in that Court and brought a hopeless arbitration case on the merits in which there was also “not a scintilla of evidence” of damages caused because the claimants’ damages theory was “built on sand.”

The Arnold & Porter team was led by international arbitration partners Whitney Debevoise (Picture), Gaela Gehring Flores and Mallory Silberman; and included associates Amy Endicott, Katelyn Horne, Michael Rodriguez and Brian Vaca. Tax partners Will Needle and Ben Berk and trademark partners Lou Ederer and Roberta Horton provided specialist advice.

source : Global Legal Chronicle

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