Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. v Refinera de Cartagena - United States District Court Southern District of New York Case No 1-23-cv-04825 - Memorandum Opinion and Order - 10 January 2025
Country
Year
2025
Summary
From 2016 to 2023, Petitioners Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. and CB&I UK Limited (together with nonparty CBI Colombiana, "CB&I") and Respondent Refinerķa de Cartagena S.A.S. ("Reficar") arbitrated one of the largest and most complex construction disputes in the world.
Reficar sought billions of dollars for CB&I's cost overruns in modernizing the Cartagena Refinery, an oil facility owned and controlled by the Republic of Colombia. CB&I, in turn, sought millions of dollars in unpaid invoices for its work. Over the course of seven years, the parties submitted, among other things, thousands of pages of briefing, fifteen thousand pages of written testimony, and hundreds of thousands of pages of exhibits. Parallel legal proceedings--both civil and criminal--produced additional reams of evidence to be considered and disputed.
The Tribunal's award, commensurate with the magnitude of the dispute, was nearly 500 pages long. Both parties won on various claims, but in the end, the Tribunal awarded Reficar nearly $1 billion. CB&I now seeks an order vacating the award under a number of grounds provided in Section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"), 9 U.S.C. § 10, arguing that the Tribunal was guilty of procedural misconduct, that it exceeded its powers, and that it manifestly disregarded the law. Reficar, in turn, seeks an order confirming the award under Section 9 of the FAA, 9 U.S.C. § 9.
The Court finds that each of the Tribunal's challenged decisions at least arguably construed or applied the parties' contracts. In such cases, "[t]he arbitrator's construction holds, however good, bad, or ugly." Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, 569 U.S. 564, 573 (2013). Accordingly, CB&I's petition to vacate the arbitration is DENIED and Reficar's cross-petition to confirm the award is GRANTED.