Curtis team obtains dismissal of ICSID claim against Cameroon for lack of jurisdiction

On June 22, 2017, an ICSID tribunal composed of French arbitrators Alain Pellet and Alexis Mourre, and chaired by Swiss arbitrator Pierre Tercier, dismissed a claim brought by CFHL, a Luxembourg incorporated company, against Cameroon for lack of jurisdiction. The majority of the tribunal concurred with the Curtis team representing Cameroon that CFHL did not meet the nationality criteria of the applicable treaty, and that it had not itself made an investment that could benefit from ICSID and treaty protection. The tribunal also agreed that the claimant had acted abusively in artificially reviving a dormant company for the sole purpose of bringing an ICSID claim and in doing so had committed an abuse of right. The ICSID and hearing costs are to be borne entirely by the claimant and the parties bear their own costs of legal representation. Arbitrator Alexis Mourre rendered a dissenting opinion in which he stated that the tribunal should have upheld its jurisdiction.

The Curtis team representing Cameroon in this case included partners Peter Wolrich in Paris and Gabriela Alvarez-Avila in Mexico, as well as counsel Virginie Liautaud and associates Marie-Odile Trouvé and Jeremy Bocock in Paris.