Hugh Jones

The appellant appealed the dismissal of its application to set aside an international arbitral award under NAFTA.

The arbitral tribunal had ordered the appellant to pay over $80 million in damages for revoking the respondents' gambling permit and shutting down their casinos without a valid regulatory reason.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the application judge applied the correct standard of review and properly concluded that there was no breach of procedural fairness in the tribunal's proceedings.

Mexico sought to set aside an international arbitral award rendered under NAFTA Chapter 11 in which an arbitral tribunal found Mexico liable for breaching the fair and equitable treatment standard and ordered Mexico to pay damages of approximately USD $80.9 million to American investors who operated casinos in Mexico.

Mexico alleged that the tribunal denied it a full and fair opportunity to present its defense by: (1) denying production of certain documents Mexico characterized as "key documents"; and (2) failing to address Mexico's argument regarding the availability of judicial review remedies in Mexican courts.

The court dismissed Mexico's application, finding that the arbitral proceedings were comprehensive and fair, that Mexico's document production denials were reasonable exercises of tribunal discretion, and that Mexico's failure to receive explicit reference to a minor argument did not constitute procedural unfairness.