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International Arbitration Forum

Daniel Kappes and Kappes Cassiday & Associates v Guatemala

Case summary

At a glance

Parties
Daniel W. Kappes and Kappes, Cassiday & Associates v. Republic of Guatemala
Case no.
ICSID Case No. ARB/18/43
Forum and rules
ICSID Convention arbitration; ICSID Arbitration Rules
Treaty
DR-CAFTA
Tribunal
Jean Kalicki (President), John M. Townsend, Zachary Douglas
Sector
Mining (El Tambor Mining Project)
Outcome
Procedural Order No. 2 (7 November 2019): the Tribunal reserved its decision on La Puya's amicus application until after it decides Guatemala's preliminary objections.

The dispute

Daniel W. Kappes and Kappes, Cassiday & Associates brought a claim against Guatemala under DR-CAFTA. The claim concerns the El Tambor Mining Project in the area of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc. The only document whose text is published here is Procedural Order No. 2. It deals with an application by La Puya, an environmental justice movement of community members from those municipalities, for leave to file non-disputing party (amicus curiae) submissions and for access to the case documents. The case was then in a preliminary phase on Guatemala's preliminary objections, and the parties had not yet filed their Memorial and Counter-Memorial. The published documents do not set out the merits of the dispute or show how the case ended.

Key holdings

  1. La Puya's amicus application is premature. The current phase deals only with Guatemala's preliminary objections, and the application will be moot if those objections succeed. ¶ 14
  2. The Tribunal reserved its decision on the application until after it decides the preliminary objections. If the case goes to the merits, La Puya or either party may ask for the application to be considered again. That request must show how the proposed submission is relevant and material to the merits issues. ¶ 15
  3. The Claimants opposed the application under ICSID Arbitration Rule 37(2)(a)–(c). Guatemala did not object to La Puya taking part in a merits phase but called intervention at the preliminary stage premature. It also stated that it had published the documents required by DR-CAFTA Article 10.21 on the Ministry of Economy's website. ¶¶ 6–13

Procedural history

  1. 16 May 2018Notice of Intent filed.
  2. 9 November 2018Notice of Arbitration filed.
  3. 16 August 2019Guatemala files its Preliminary Objections.
  4. 23 October 2019La Puya applies for leave to file amicus curiae submissions. The parties file their observations on 31 October 2019.
  5. 7 November 2019Procedural Order No. 2: the Tribunal reserves its decision on La Puya's application until after it decides the preliminary objections.
  6. 29 June 2020A Petition for Amicus Participation is filed.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

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Keywords

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.

Country
Treaty
Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)