Skip to Content

Eleventh Circuit Affirms Denial of Imax Corp.'s Petition to Vacate Arbitration Tribunal Rulings That Included Awards of Nearly $1 Million in Arbitration Costs and Attorney's Fees
June 24, 2020

The arbitration awards involved several agreements for the sale, lease, and maintenance of Imax theater systems in South and Central America and the Caribbean. The arbitral tribunal issued a partial final award, and then several months later the tribunal issued its final award that resolved requests for relief on which it had deferred ruling. The tribunal ordered Imax to pay the opposing party $971,525.38 in arbitration costs, representing $800,000 in attorneys' fees, and 70% of the administrative fees and expenses of the International Dispute Resolution Procedures of the American Arbitration Association, as well as 70% of the compensation and expenses of the arbitrators, which totaled $171,525.38. Imax challenged the awards, but the district court denied vacatur. The Eleventh Circuit then affirmed the denial, finding that the district court properly denied vacatur because Imax "failed to carry its burden to establish" (1) a defense under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards or (2) that the arbitral tribunal exceeded its powers under the Federal Arbitration Act.

IMAX Corp. v. Giencourt Investments, S.A., No. 20-10491 (11th Cir. May 28, 2020).
Authored By
Image: Michael N. Wolgin
Michael N. Wolgin
Related Practices
Reinsurance
©2026 Carlton Fields, P.A. Carlton Fields practices law in California through Carlton Fields, LLP. Carlton Fields publications should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general information and educational purposes only, and should not be relied on as if it were advice about a particular fact situation. The distribution of this publication is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship with Carlton Fields. This publication may not be quoted or referred to in any other publication or proceeding without the prior written consent of the firm, to be given or withheld at our discretion. To request reprint permission for any of our publications, please use our Contact Us form via the link below. The views set forth herein are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the firm. This site may contain hypertext links to information created and maintained by other entities. Carlton Fields does not control or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this outside information, nor is the inclusion of a link to be intended as an endorsement of those outside sites.

Disclaimer

The information on this website is presented as a service for our clients and Internet users and is not intended to be legal advice, nor should you consider it as such. Although we welcome your inquiries, please keep in mind that merely contacting us will not establish an attorney-client relationship between us. Consequently, you should not convey any confidential information to us until a formal attorney-client relationship has been established. Please remember that electronic correspondence on the internet is not secure and that you should not include sensitive or confidential information in messages. With that in mind, we look forward to hearing from you.