Summary

1. On September 20, 2021, a three-member arbitral tribunal ("tribunal") rendered the Award at issue in this petition under the North America Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"), Dec. 17, 1992, 32 I.L.M. 289 (1993). Lion, a Canadian limited partnership with its headquarters in the United States, claimed that it suffered a denial of its rights under the NAFTA in relation to its efforts to enforce in the Mexican courts a mortgage against a borrower who had defaulted. Notwithstanding that Lion had abandoned the litigation, that the borrower had engaged in a fraud upon the courts, and that the tribunal found no intentional or bad faith behavior by the courts, the tribunal found that Lion had suffered a "denial of justice" and awarded Lion approximately $47 million, plus interest and reimbursement for certain attorney's fees and costs.

2. In making its determination, however, the tribunal exceeded its authority by inventing an obligation of Mexico not contained in the NAFTA. Indeed, the tribunal openly admitted that it was disregarding the plain meaning of the NAFTA, thereby manifestly disregarding the governing law. Such conduct establishes that the award must be vacated under 9 U.S.C § 10(a)(4) and 9 U.S.C. § 207.

Award / Laudo

• OGEL: Lion Mexico Consolidated LP v Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos - ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/15/2 - Award of the Tribunal - 20 September 2021
• TDM: Lion Mexico Consolidated LP v Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos - ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/15/2 - Award of the Tribunal - 20 September 2021
• OGEL: Lion Mexico Consolidated LP v Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos - ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/15/2 - Laudo - 20 September 2021
• TDM: Lion Mexico Consolidated LP v Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos - ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/15/2 - Laudo - 20 September 2021