Agira SA v Petroleos de Venezuela SA PDVSA - United States District Court Southern District of Texas Case No 4-24-cv-01922 - Complaint - 21 May 2024
Country
Year
2024
Summary
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The Arbitration and Award
41. On or about September 18, 2018, Agira submitted a request for arbitration to the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration Secretariat (the "ICC"), requesting arbitration involving a dispute over the Invoices and other unpaid invoices issued to the Defendants (the "Arbitration").
42. Agira invoked the agreement to arbitrate from the "Terms and Conditions for Goods Purchases" included in a request for quotation pertaining to several unpaid invoices, which representatives from Agira and the Defendants signed in 2012. Those Terms and Conditions for Goods Purchases provide that they are to be governed by the law of The Netherlands and any dispute arising therefrom would be settled by arbitration under the Rules of the ICC International Court of Arbitration with its legal seat at The Hague.
43. Agira reasonably believed that these Terms and Conditions for Goods Purchases controlled all subsequent purchase orders because these Terms and Conditions were signed, and all purchase orders incorporated by reference the "present standard BARIVEN, S.A.. . . Terms and Conditions which are already in your possession." Moreover, some of the purchase orders did not contain their own terms and conditions.
44. Following commencement of the Arbitration, the ICC and, later, the tribunal constituted to adjudicate the Arbitration (the "Tribunal") undertook extensive efforts to serve the Defendants, as respondents in the Arbitration, with all communications, pleadings, and other documents in the Arbitration.
45. The Defendants never appeared in the Arbitration.
46. Upon information and belief, the Defendants received adequate notice of the arbitration and elected not to participate.
47. Because the Defendants never appeared in the Arbitration, they never raised any defenses, including any jurisdictional defenses, to Agira's claims.
48. On April 9, 2021- roughly two years and seven months after the commencement of the Arbitration-the Tribunal issued a final award (the "Award"). ...