Liberia: Mutual Benefits Assurance Company Seeks Supreme Court Intervention to Halt US$11M Enforcement Action

Monrovia-Mutual Benefits Assurance Company (MBAC) has filed a petition before the Supreme Court of Liberia, seeking a writ of prohibition to stop the enforcement of an $11.2 million arbitral judgment in favor of Bea Mountain Mining Corporation.

The petition, filed through the company’s legal counsel, Counselor Aloysius Teah Jappah, alleges that MBAC was denied due process and excluded from the arbitration proceedings that led to the controversial award.

At the center of the legal dispute is an arbitral ruling rendered on January 23, 2017, against the International Construction Engineering Company (ICE), for which MBAC had issued a performance bond.

The Commercial Court of Liberia subsequently enforced the award, ordering the seizure and sale of MBAC’s assets to satisfy the judgment.

However, MBAC contends that it was neither named a party to the arbitration nor given notice of the proceedings, despite the bond it issued being central to the case.

MBAC references a 2015 Supreme Court ruling, which affirmed its right to defend its interest in any arbitration involving bonds it issued.

The company argued that both constitutional and statutory protections were violated, citing Article 20(a) of the Liberian Constitution, which guarantees due process, and Section 25.12 of the Civil Procedure Law, which deems foreign judgments unenforceable against parties who did not participate in the foreign proceedings.

The petition also invokes Article V(b) of the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, to which Liberia is a signatory.

MBAC claims this international agreement prohibits enforcement of foreign arbitral decisions where a party was not given proper notice or a fair opportunity to be heard.

In its plea to the Supreme Court, MBAC is requesting the issuance of an alternative writ of prohibition to immediately halt the ongoing enforcement process, reopen its business premises, and compel the respondents, Bea Mountain Mining Corporation and the Commercial Court, to show cause why the writ should not be made permanent.

The case is poised to test the boundaries of Liberia’s obligations under international arbitration agreements and the supremacy of domestic constitutional protections.

A ruling from the Supreme Court could have far-reaching implications for foreign investment contracts and enforcement of international arbitral awards in the country.