Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov has succeeded in having a foreign arbitral award delivered by a panel on behalf of Sandvik Bulgaria in proceedings under the auspices of the Vienna International Arbitral Center recognized and enforced in Bulgaria.
Sandvik Bulgaria is part of Sandvik Mining and Construction Materials Handling GmbH & Co KG, an Austrian distributor of equipment for excavation and transport of minerals and other bulk materials. The award was obtained in arbitration against Bulgarian state-owned company Montagi EAD arising from a contract for erection of coal and lime stone storage and handling systems at Bulgaria's Maritza East 1 power station.
The arbitration panel rendered its award in Sandvik's favour, but the company did not receive any payments from Montagi and thus took steps to enforce the award in Bulgaria. In its decision of April 11, 2017, the Sofia Appellate Court confirmed the first instance court decision, which recognized the Vienna International Arbitral Center’s Arbitral Award and called for its enforcement in Bulgaria. The court rejected Montagi's arguments involving an alleged invalidity of the arbitration agreement and purported breach of public policy as justifying rejecting the award under the New York convention.
On March 6, 2018 the Supreme Court of Cassation rejected the cassation appeal of Montagi and refused to consider the case on the merits.
The DKGV team consisted of Partner Angel Ganev and Senior Associate Vlada Tsenova.
