Montgomery McCracken Receives Arbitration Award for Client Sweeteners Plus in ICC Court

March 5, 2014

Types : Press Releases

NEW YORK–Montgomery McCracken achieved a favorable result in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration on behalf of client Sweeteners Plus, a Lakeville, N.Y.-based processor and distributor of all types of liquid and dry sweeteners. The case involved diversion of more than $7 million, which had been placed in an escrow account intended to cover payment of a large shipment of sugar to be supplied by Panamanian company Archangel Worldwide Investment (AWI). AWI failed to deliver the sugar, claiming that their employee was never authorized to make the sale, nor remove the funds from the escrow account.

The ICC found in favor of Sweeteners Plus, deciding that AWI was fully bound by the terms of the sugar sale contract and that its sales-person acted with apparent authority. The ruling is particularly significant because the panel also adopted the test for jurisdiction advocated by our client, based on where the misconduct happened rather than using a test based on the laws of the country where the employee was hired.

Partner Vincent DeOrchis of Montgomery McCracken’s New York office served as the lead attorney for Sweeteners Plus, with assistance from associates Kaspar Kielland, Rimma Tsvasman and Jennifer Canfield. DeOrchis is a partner in the firm’s Litigation department and practices in the area of Maritime and Transportation. He has tried numerous cases, appeals and arbitrations throughout the United States and has handled many of the leading cases in U.S. maritime law involving cargo, charter party, limitation of liability and hull claims. DeOrchis is a consulting expert to the U.S. State Department with respect to the UNCITRAL, a project to draft a new international cargo liability instrument. He received a J.D. from Fordham Law School in 1974 and graduated from Fordham College in 1971.

About Sweeteners Plus

Sweeteners Plus is a distributor and manufacturer of liquid and dry sweeteners for food and non-food applications. These include white and brown sugar, organic and kosher products, fructose, maltitol, corn syrup and invert syrups. Sweeteners Plus serves customers nationwide from its plant in the Finger Lakes region of Lakeville, N.Y. For more information, visit sweetenersplus.com.

About Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads LLP

Montgomery McCracken is a multidisciplinary law firm with more than 120 attorneys in offices in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Its attorneys provide legal services to clients in a wide range of industries both nationwide and internationally.

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