Argentina has asked the International Court of Justice to hear a lawsuit it wants to bring against the U.S. in a high-stakes legal battle between the South American nation and some of its creditors over unpaid debts, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Argentina's petition says that decisions by U.S. courts in the dispute have violated its sovereignty, The Hague-based tribunal said yesterday. However, the U.S. would have to accept the International Court of Justice's jurisdiction for a lawsuit to move forward, something that has happened in only 22 cases since the tribunal began working in 1946. The Obama administration is unlikely to grant the request in the absence of a bi-lateral treaty that would require the U.S. to accept the court as a venue to hear disputes with Argentina, said Paz Zarate, an international law expert at Oxford Analytica. "From the point of view of the U.S. government, the New York court system has dealt with a contractual dispute in which the executive [branch] cannot intervene. It's a dispute governed by a contract, not by a treaty or international law," Zarate said.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/argentina-sues-u-s-in-international-cour…
In related news, international banks are looking to put together a group of investors to buy disputed Argentine debt and resolve a U.S. lawsuit that is blocking the country from servicing any of its foreign bonds, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The banks are seeking investors willing to purchase bonds left over from the nation’s 2001 default held by firms led by Elliott Management Corp., said Eduardo Eurnekian, an Argentine billionaire who has been approached by bankers. While Elliott has a court order for full repayment, a banker familiar with the talks speculated the New York-based hedge fund would accept a settlement worth about 80 cents to 85 cents on the dollar.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-08-07/banks-said-to-be-arrangi…