| CCJ Tells BNE To Pay Arbitral Award |
| Thu, March 12, 2015 |
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| Last week Friday, the Caribbean Court of Justice handed down a judgment from Belize, ordering Belize Natural Energy to pay Maranco Oil Company 422 thousand, 138 dollars which had been awarded to the oil company through arbitration. This lawsuit turned on the premise that all arbitration awards are final.
This legal dispute dates all the way back to May 1, 2008 when BNE and Maranco entered into 2 separate onshore oil-drilling contracts. They were to have lasted for one year, but a business dispute emerged in which Maranco claimed that BNE owed them after refusing to pay on time. BNE disputed Maranco's claim and so the commercial dispute landed ended up at arbitration.
They both appointed arbitrators, and an umpire was retained so that both sides could make their case, at the end of that process, the impartial umpire decided that BNE owed Maranco 2.4 million dollars. That became the enforceable by Justice Oswell Legall, but the when it came to cost, through arbitration, BNE was ordered to pay Maranco additional litigation cost of that 422 plus thousand dollars.
BNE disputed that and made an application for the Supreme Court to quash that additional cost. It was rejected, and so they appealed to the Court of Appeal, which upheld Justice Legall's decision. BNE appealed all the way to the CCJ, and after hearing the full case, the Court has ruled that the arbitration award of 422 thousand dollars in cost is enforceable, and must be paid.
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