NNDKP successful in a complex dispute over a claim amounting to approximatively lei 22 million

NNDKP successfully assisted and represented companies part of Efacec group, a supplier of solutions with presence in the energy, mobility and environment value chain, before the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania against Brăila County, a local administrative authority from Romania.

The arbitral dispute, whose duration spanned over four years, concerned the local authority’s claims against the contractor Efacec, arising from the performance of a contract for the design and execution of works related to the integrated waste management system in Brăila county, contract which was based on FIDIC Yellow Book rules. Brăila County claimed delay penalties that exceeded the total value of the project, including damages consisting in the value of the supervision activity performed by the Engineer involved in the project and the value of the design activity performed by Efacec, claiming that the project finalized by the contractor contained errors, with a total value amounting to approx. lei 22 million.

NNDKP team has successfully proved the conformity of the project delivered by the contractor and obtained the avoidance by the contractor of the obligation to pay the delay penalties and the damages claimed by the beneficiary. In addition, the beneficiary was ordered to pay for the works executed by Efacec.

The NNDKP team that represented the contractor included Valeriu Mina, Partner, and Alexandra Măruţoiu, Senior Associate, from NNDKP’s Dispute Resolution practice. The team has successfully managed in the last 10 years an extremely diverse range of court and arbitration disputes in connection with projects based on FIDIC rules.

"We are currently witnessing a paradigm shift: while most arbitration disputes concerning the execution of contracts based on FIDIC 1999 rules had contractors as claimants, in recent years we have seen a wave of actions initiated by contracting authorities. In this type of projects, which are more and more numerous, we managed to obtain final decisions that ensure the balance between the claims of the two parties, that take into account the reality proven by the administration of complex evidence, both in terms of scope and degree of technical difficulty. We are glad that we were able to obtain a favorable solution for our client in this project as well, to whom we thank for their trust in our ability to handle this complex dispute ", said Valeriu Mina.

NNDKP's Dispute Resolution Practice coordinated by Ana Diculescu-Șova is independently recognized as a force in the area of dispute resolution, being constantly highly ranked by reputed international guides such as Chambers and Partners, since 2007, and The European Legal 500 guide, since 2002. With 9 Partners coordinating a team of over 40 litigators active in Bucharest and in the other regional offices, NNDKP has the necessary resources to handle complex cases, which include several parties or extend over many years, and can offer sustainable strategies in order to mitigate potential future risks.