Valores v Venezuela - United States District Court for the District of Columbia Case 19-cv-00046 - Report and Recommendation - 3 August 2022
Country
Year
2022
Summary
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
The International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States, or "ICSID Convention," is a multilateral treaty aimed at stimulating private foreign investment in developing countries. One of its accomplishments was the creation of an arbitration forum for adjudicating and enforcing disputes between investors and the countries in which they invest. The Plaintiffs in this case, two Spanish companies, won an ICSID arbitral award against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ("Venezuela"), the defendant here, in 2017. Plaintiffs have now asked this Court to enforce their award pursuant to Article 54 of the ICSID Convention and its implementing statute, 22 U.S.C. § 1650a. Venezuela contends that the award cannot be enforced because Venezuela was denied due process in the underlying arbitration proceedings.
Four motions are now before the Court: Plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment, ECF No. 16; Venezuela's Motion to Set Aside the Default, ECF No. 20; Plaintiffs' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings or for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 24; and Venezuela's Cross- Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 25. The motions were referred to the undersigned for a report and recommendation by Minute Orders dated October 28, 2019; March 5 and 18, 2020; and January 24, 2022. Having now reviewed the parties' pleadings, briefs, and proffered evidence,1 as well as the relevant law, the undersigned recommends that the Court GRANT Venezuela's Motion to Set Aside Default and DENY the Plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment as moot. The undersigned further recommends that the Court GRANT Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment and DENY Venezuela's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment, for the reasons that follow.
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