A recent Law 360 by Elliot Weld, “Spanish IT Provider Asks Court to Confirm $14M Award,” reports that a spanish information technology provider Amadeus IT Group asked an Atlanta federal court to confirm an arbitration award it was granted by the International Chamber of Commerce against technology firm Ebix, saying the court should reject Ebix's arguments that the award improperly includes attorney fees.  Amadeus said that the inclusion of attorney fees in the award was the only argument Ebix had advanced to challenge it, and that both parties had agreed to be bound by the rules of the ICC.

"Ebix's sole basis for challenging the arbitration award is the arbitral tribunal's award of attorney fees," a memorandum by Amadeus reads.  "Contrary to Ebix's argument, the tribunal did not exceed its scope or authority."  According to Amadeus, the parties entered into a global agreement in October 2019 for Amadeus to provide Ebix's Indian subsidiary EbixCash with access to the Amadeus Travel Platform, a software interface it provides to its clients, in the Asia-Pacific region.  As part of that agreement, Amadeus paid EbixCash $15 million that was repayable if EbixCash failed to produce international airline bookings in certain volumes within time frames depicted in the agreement, according to Amadeus.

EbixCash failed to meet the required numbers and Amadeus terminated the agreement and sought repayment in April 2020, the company said.  The parties entered arbitration after they were "unable to reach an amicable resolution," according to the petition.  Ebix argued in a response April 18 that the tribunal's inclusion of costs and fees in the final award was beyond the scope of its power.  Amadeus responded that in the 2019 agreement between the two companies, ICC rules were included that permit a tribunal to award fees.  Ebix also waived its right to challenge the fees when it failed to raise the issue during arbitration, Amadeus said.

Eleventh Circuit precedent dictates that courts defer to the decisions of a tribunal when the scope of an arbitration is in dispute, Amadeus said.  "Ebix cannot point to a clause limiting Amadeus' ability to recover fees because no such clause exists," Amadeus argued.  At minimum, the remainder of the final $14 million award excluding the legal costs is not contested, and the court should confirm that even if it finds the tribunal exceeded its own authority, Amadeus said.

"Ebix is opposing confirmation of the award solely for purposes of delay," the motion reads.  "The final award was issued well over a year ago, and Ebix is disputing only the fees and costs portion of the award.  Yet Ebix has yet to pay anything on the final award, including the undisputed principal amount."