Dismissal of Claim Against Central European State

A Compass Lexecon team successfully assisted outside counsel for a Central European state (Respondent) in dismissing a claim in excess of €230 million raised by a major multinational pharmaceutical company (Claimant). The Compass Lexecon team included Manuel Abdala and Pablo Spiller as quantum experts, with Sebastian Zuccon as case manager, and Pablo López Zadicoff, Gustavo De Marco, and Alan Rozenberg providing key support. Claimants alleged expropriation of their investment following the denial by Respondent to renew the marketing authorizations of two products. Claimant’s economic expert recommended damages based on a lost profit analysis, as if the State had breached a sales contract with the pharmaceutical company, rather than breached an investment treaty. The Compass Lexecon team showed that damages ought to be assessed as the loss in value to the affected investments, which Claimant defined as the intangible assets related to the trademark, copyrights and rights to industrial processes conducted within the host country, as opposed to the pharmaceutical’s overall lost profits from the State’s failure to renew their marketing authorizations. The Tribunal fully sided with Compass Lexecon quantum experts’ assessment of damages, and found that they accurately determined the loss to Claimants, estimated at only €3.9 million for the loss of their intangible investments in the one product the Tribunal found Respondent to have breached the Treaty.