Mária Poláková

• Advising Kosovo in an investment arbitration filed by ACP Axos Capital GmbH in which the international tribunal, after a full hearing on jurisdiction, merits, and damages, dismissed claimant’s €380 million claim in its entirety and awarded Kosovo all of its costs and legal fees.
• Advising the Czech Republic in an investment arbitration case brought by the German investor ECE concerning alleged interference with a real estate development project. The client prevailed in all claims and was awarded the majority of costs.
• Advising the Czech Republic in a series of investment arbitration cases brought by investors in the sector of renewable energy.
• Advising the Slovak Republic in the ICSID arbitration brought by EuroGas (US) and Belmont Resources (Canada) in the mining sector. The Slovak Republic prevailed on jurisdictional grounds and investors’ claims for over €239.7 million were dismissed.
• Advising the Slovak Republic in its second UNCITRAL investment arbitration against the Dutch health insurance company Achmea. The arbitral tribunal dismissed all claims at the jurisdictional stage and awarded the Slovak Republic most of its legal costs.
• Advised the Slovak Republic in an UNCITRAL investment arbitration arising under the Poland-Slovakia BIT in connection with an alleged indirect expropriation of a company producing mineral water (Spółdzielnia Pracy Muszynianka v. Slovakia). All of the investor’s claims for damages were rejected.
• Advising the State of Libya in a pending €52 million construction arbitration filed by the company Nurol Insaat ve Ticaret before the ICC under the Turkey-Libya BIT.
• Advising an Eastern European gas company in an ICC arbitration against its major gas supplier.
• Advising the State of Libya in a pending US$700 million investment arbitration filed by a group of Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian nationals under the OIC Treaty.
• Advising the State of Libya in a pending US$300 million investment arbitration filed by two French nationals under the France-Libya BIT and the UNCITRAL Rules.
• Advising Estonia in an ICSID arbitration arising under the Netherlands-Estonia BIT in connection with regulation of water tariffs in the Estonian capital Tallinn (United Utilities (Tallinn) B.V. and Aktsiaselts Tallinna Vesi v. Estonia (ICSID Case No. ARB/14/24)). All of the claimants’ claims were rejected and Estonia was awarded most of its costs.
• Advising Romania in a pending ECT arbitration regarding changes in subsidies for generation of renewable energy (Kelag-Kartner Elektrizitats et al. v. Romania (ICSID Case No. ARB/21/54)).
• Advised a US real estate investor and a former tenant in a series of complex litigations and arbitrations against a local partner. The client won all claims.
• Advised a Finnish company in an UNCITRAL arbitration against a Central European country regarding alleged breaches of an offset agreement. The client prevailed in the dispute.
• Advised Croatia in an investment arbitration against the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL in connection with the privatisation and operation of the Croatian oil and gas company INA. The claims, worth in excess of US$1 billion, arose under the Energy Charter Treaty and several commercial agreements between Croatia and MOL (ICSID Case No. ARB/13/32). The tribunal rejected most of the claimant’s claims on the merits and awarded the claimant less than 20% of the amount claimed.

Czech Litigation

• Acting as lead counsel of a major international sports retailer operating on the Czech market in a dispute before the Arbitration Court initiated by a Czech real estate developer for the payment of a contractual penalty potentially in the maximum amount of CZK100 million, allegedly due as a result of our client’s termination of the contract for the future purchase of land. The claims against our client were dismissed in the arbitration before the Arbitration Court, following which we also defended our client against the opposing party’s action for the setting aside of the arbitration award before Czech courts.
• Secured a full victory for a client in Czech court proceedings regarding setting aside of arbitral award.
• Secured a full victory for a client in a dispute before Czech courts regarding payment of remuneration under the Services Agreement.
• Advised an international company defending against alleged breaches of the Future Purchase Agreement in arbitration initiated before the Arbitration Court attached to the Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic. All claims brought by the claimant were rejected.