Landmark Cases

The losing party to an arbitration appealed to the Court of Appeal arguing on technical grounds that the arbitrators did not have any power to make the decision. Zaiwalla & Co successfully upheld the arbitrators’ decision for their client, helping to define the role of an arbitrator in English law.

Considered to be one of the top 10 cases of 2013 by leading publication The Lawyer, Zaiwalla & Co. successfully challenged before the UK Supreme Court the listing of Bank Mellat by the UK Treasury under the UK’s Iran sanctions regime. Due to its major national security elements, the case involved the first ever ‘closed hearing’ in the Supreme Court’s history. It is now a landmark case on the approach to be adopted by the English Courts when part of the proceedings takes place behind closed doors.

Zaiwalla & Co also led Bank Mellat’s successful challenge against sanctions imposed by the European Union, causing the European Court of Justice to declare the sanctions unlawful.

Zaiwalla & Co acted for the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) in a dispute arising out of the political crisis following Venezuela’s disputed 2018 presidential election. The Bank of England (BoE) holds approximately US$2.1 billion of gold reserves on behalf of the state of Venezuela appointed by President Maduro but has questioned the authority of the current Board of BCV.  We are acting for the BCV in a claim against the BoE to gain access to those reserves to finance the purchase of humanitarian, food and medical supplies necessary to meet the Coronavirus pandemic.  This is disputed by a board appointed by Juan Guaidó, who claims the title of Interim President of Venezuela.

This issue has been considered by all levels of the UK courts, including the Supreme Court where Zaiwalla & Co acted.

The team defeated a claim for US$45 million made against several defendants brought in the English High Court by an Indian bank, based on an alleged fraud. We successfully argued that the claim was too weak and should not have been started in England because the defendants were more closely connected with India. We also successfully resisted the Bank’s appeal against this decision.

Producing the Indian Government’s long-awaited first success in the UK House of Lords, this case determined the law in respect of claims for compound interest. It remains a leading authority in contract law nearly 40 years later.

A multi-level fraud claim for over £150m, in which Zaiwalla & Co represented the London Stock Exchange listed Kazakh paper manufacturer to secure a freezing order against its former owners, which was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The case is now authority for many propositions of law, including the way the Court should deal with cost claim where lawyer incur disproportionate and unreasonable amounts of costs (as the opponents did in this case).