Curtis Secures Victory for Kazakhstan in Dispute with Ruby Roz Agricol LLP

Curtis secured a comprehensive victory for its client, The Republic of Kazakhstan, in an arbitration appeal brought before the Commercial Court in London by Ruby Roz, a Kazakh poultry farm company.

Mr Justice Knowles agreed with a 2013 award issued by an UNCITRAL tribunal, which in August 2013 had rejected Ruby Roz’s claims against Kazakhstan on the basis of lack of jurisdiction.

Mr Justice Knowles also denied Ruby Roz the opportunity to apply for further appeal and ordered the company to reimburse the state US$608,000 by way of an immediate interim payment on account of legal fees. The UK Arbitration Act permits, in certain circumstances, a full re-hearing of the jurisdictional arguments which were run in the underlying arbitration.

The Curtis team was led by Paris-based partners Peter Wolrich and Geoffroy Lyonnet and included Virginie Liautaud (Counsel, Paris), James Cockburn (Associate, London), Svetlana Evliya (Consultant, Istanbul) and Marie-Odile Trouvé (Associate, Paris). In the underlying arbitration, the team also included Gabriela Alvarez-Avila (Partner, Mexico City); Askar Moukhitdinov (Partner, Almaty); Stéphanie Picot (Associate, Paris); and Anna Kouyaté (Associate, Paris).

This news was also published by Global Arbitration Review and Law360.