Summary

Petitioner Marseille-Kliniken AG won an arbitration award against respondent the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and then filed a petition to confirm the award. On November 17, 2023, I confirmed the award while deferring to the arbitral tribunal's interpretation of the parties' dispute-resolution clause. Our Circuit Court vacated and remanded, holding that I should interpret the dispute-resolution clause in the first instance. See Marseille-Kliniken AG v. Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, 153 F.4th 1262, 1271-72 (D.C. Cir. 2025). On remand, the parties submitted supplemental briefs addressing the proper interpretation of the dispute-resolution clause. Because the parties agreed to arbitrate before the Chamber of Commerce in Zurich, Swiss choice-of- law rules apply. Under Swiss choice-of-law rules, Swiss law governs interpretation of the dispute-resolution clause, and the dispute-resolution clause did not require litigation in the Equatoguinean courts before proceeding to arbitration. Accordingly, I will GRANT the petition to confirm the arbitration award.