After the client paid for a major asset transaction, the counterparty failed to deliver the assets and complete the transfer as agreed, preventing development and use. Two previous arbitrations had been withdrawn. At the end of 2022, the client engaged Li Shu’s team to prepare a renewed arbitration.
Key issues included the nature of the bank’s obligations, time-bar defenses and the calculation of liquidated damages. The team rebuilt the evidentiary record, conducted site investigations and used aerial surveying materials to document the occupation of the assets.
The lawyers relied on the contract, actual losses, financing costs, expected profits and comparable cases. They argued that the bank owed joint and several liability rather than merely guarantee obligations.
According to YunTing’s account, the award upheld claims for liquidated damages amounting to hundreds of millions of renminbi and required the bank to pay on a joint and several basis. It also addressed continuing damages for ongoing breach. The courts rejected the bank’s subsequent applications to set aside the award and to refuse enforcement.