Fifth Circuit Upholds International Arbitration Award Vindicating Client

After securing a complete victory for a major oil and gas client in an international arbitration, Ware Jackson partners Eileen O’Neill and Michelle Meriam Blair successfully defended the arbitration award in federal district court and again on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The arbitrator—a former Texas Supreme Court Justice—had dismissed claims against Ware Jackson’s client for over $2 billion in alleged damages by a failed Saudi Arabian joint venture and awarded the client over $8.5 million for its counterclaim for unpaid and past-due equipment invoices. In a pithy opinion, the Fifth Circuit, like the federal district court, found no merit to the joint venture’s arguments for vacating the arbitration award or sending the dispute back to arbitration.