The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a $173 million judgment against Russian oil and gas company Tatneft, despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as ordered by a Paris-based arbitration panel.
The justices turned away Ukraine's appeal to the lower U.S. court's decision to affirm the judgment ordered by the arbitration panel to consider Tatneft's accusations of Ukrainian wrongdoing over the handling of shares in an oil refinery. Ukraine has tried to overturn the award, which has been upheld in both foreign and U.S. courts.
Tatneft has been in a U.S. federal court since 2017 trying to enforce the award. Ukraine has said the matter should not be heard in an American court, and Tatneft has not proved Ukraine has any assets in the United States, so there is no reason for the matter to be argued in the country. Tatneft said Ukrainian courts have proven untrustworthy and that arbitration is commonly addressed in U.S. courts.
The United States was not a party to the underlying dispute.
The U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled in Tatneft's favor in 2020, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirming the enforcement of the judgment in 2021. Ukraine's lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case after Russia's February invasion, arguing that the legal fight should be waged in Ukraine's courts.
Lawyers for Ukraine raised Tatneft's ties to the Russian government and asked the U.S. high court to take up the appeal. They said Tatneft had used the case to target third parties that were integral to Ukraine's national security ahead of Russia's invasion. Tatneft denies any of the allegations, saying the company was not targeting sensitive information and accusing Ukraine of stonewalling.
The U.S. Justice Department hasn't yet weighed in on the case, but it raised concerns that Ukrainian documents shared with Tatneft could be passed onto the Russian government. Due to the war, the parties agreed to pause proceedings before Kollar-Kotelly to identify Ukrainian assets that could satisfy the judgment.