Paul, Weiss secured another major victory for Citigroup Inc.
against the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). In 2009, ADIA
commenced an arbitration in the International Centre for Dispute
Resolution, claiming that Citigroup had fraudulently induced ADIA
to invest $7.5 billion in the bank. ADIA sought rescission of the
$7.5 billion investment agreement or, alternatively, more than $4
billion in damages. After a month-long hearing in May 2011, the
three-person arbitration panel found for Citigroup on all claims.
ADIA then brought a petition to vacate the award in New York State
Court. In its petition, ADIA argued that the panel had "manifestly
disregarded" the law by applying New York law, rather than the
civil law of Abu Dhabi, to ADIA's tort claims and that it had
deprived ADIA of due process and fundamental fairness by denying
two of ADIA's almost 60 document requests. Citigroup removed the
case to the SDNY and cross-moved for confirmation of the
award.
After briefing and oral argument, Judge Daniels denied ADIA's
petition to vacate and granted Citigroup's motion to confirm the
award. As to the choice-of-law issue, Judge Daniels explained that
the panel had applied the framework that ADIA itself had suggested.
He held that the panel's "thoughtful" application of that framework
was not even erroneous, let alone the kind of error that could
support vacatur of the award. As to ADIA's discovery objections,
Judge Daniels held that the "denial of these two document requests
did not render the proceedings fundamentally unfair," explaining
that "ADIA had expansive access to discovery materials." He
concluded that "ADIA cannot turn this discovery dispute into an
issue of fundamental due process sufficient to set aside the
award."
The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Bruce
Birenboim, Susanna Buergel, Jay Cohen, Leslie Fagen,
Brad Karp and
Daniel
Toal and associates David K. Kessler and Gregory
Laufer. Litigation partner Les Fagen argued the case for
Citigroup.