Global engineering, procurement, and construction company successfully resolves claims

Client(s) Global engineering, procurement, and construction company

Jones Day defended a global engineering, procurement, and construction company and certain of its affiliates (the "EPC Contractor") in ICC arbitration proceedings arising from the failure of 469 MW combined-cycle power-generation facility in Paraná, Brazil. The claimant Brazilian electric utility sought to hold the EPC Contractor liable for the acts of its subcontractor, the manufacturer of the facility's steam turbine generator, under a theory of gross negligence, thus attempting to vitiate the parties' otherwise applicable limitations on liability. Drawing on expertise in areas as diverse as Brazilian and U.S. law, metallurgy, and fracture mechanics, the regulatory framework of the Brazilian power sector, and the engineering of power plants and power-generation equipment, Jones Day achieved a settlement for the EPC Contractor on the eve of the arbitration's merits hearing. All claims arising from the incident were resolved.