Former investors in Argentine state oil company YPF SA asked the US Supreme Court to review an “egregiously wrong” lower-court ruling that overturned a $16.1 billion judgment in their favor. A federal appeals court in March said the judge who ordered the Argentine government to pay the biggest commercial judgment in US legal history misinterpreted the South American country’s law in allowing the case to proceed. The former shareholders claimed they lost money in the 2012 nationalization of YPF.
That decision was hailed as a major victory by Argentine President Javier Milei, who had refused to negotiate with litigation funder Burford Capital Ltd. Burford acquired the interests of former overseas shareholders in YPF, financed the litigation and would have taken a large share of the award. Burford’s US shares plummeted on the news of the March ruling and currently sit at less than a quarter of their 2023 high.
The former shareholders on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, calling the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling “egregiously wrong, wholly unprecedented, and extremely consequential,” according to a copy of the petition reviewed by Bloomberg News that was dated Sept. 30. It wasn’t immediately visible on the high court’s public docket.
“Litigation funder Burford Capital spent a fruitless decade dragging the Argentine Republic through the US courts only to lose in the 2nd Circuit, whose ruling rests on a thorough and accurate analysis of governing Argentine law,” Argentina said in a statement. “The Republic will continue to defend its interests resolutely and has every confidence in the strength of its position.”
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing