In a matter between Petitioner Vitaly Smagin and Respondent Ashot Yegiazaryan, the London Court of International Arbitration awarded Smagin about $72 million in damages plus about $20 million in interest and fees. A U.S. district court then confirmed the award. Yegiazaryan then appealed to the Ninth Circuit, taking issue with (1) an order of attorneys’ fees against him; (2) a post-judgment injunction against him, freezing some $115 million in assets; and (3) a turnover order against him regarding a Liechtenstein trust that is now the subject of ongoing proceedings in Liechtenstein courts.
With respect to the grant of attorney’s fees, the Ninth Circuit vacated the award as an abuse of discretion, finding that the district court granted Smagin’s request for attorney’s fees without entering any finding on bad faith. With regard to the injunction resulting in the freezing of Yegiazaryan’s assets, however, the Ninth Circuit upheld the decision, reasoning that the district court identified a clear, case-specific risk that Yegiazaryan might evade the court’s jurisdiction or contravene its judgment by funneling assets through a “reshuffled deck of shell companies and bank accounts across the Caribbean, Cyprus, Monaco, Liechtenstein, or whatever other amicable havens he finds.” Regarding the turnover order, which commanded Yegiazaryan to turn over assets of a Liechtenstein trust, the Ninth Circuit vacated the order as premature. The Ninth Circuit reasoned that its decision was guided by the principles of “adjudicatory comity,” that is, “discretion of a national court to decline to exercise jurisdiction over a case before it when that case is pending in a foreign court with proper jurisdiction.” Smagin v. Yegiazaryan, Case No. 17-56467 (9th Cir. May 18, 2018).
This post written by Gail Jankowski.
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