In a case of critical importance to the Republic of Argentina and long-established principles of sovereign immunity, S&C persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to grant an August 15 stay of a district court order requiring Argentina to turn over its 51 percent stake in Argentine energy company YPF to partially satisfy a $16.1 billion U.S. judgment that is itself currently on appeal to the Second Circuit. Obtaining this unanimous stay is crucial to Argentina’s efforts to return to the international capital markets, as the turnover of shares could have destabilized YPF and harmed the Argentine economy. Robert Giuffra Jr., Amanda Davidoff, Morgan Ratner and Thomas White received a “Shout-Out” from the Litigation Daily for this win.
Notably, the United States filed an amicus brief in support of the stay. The U.S. government explained that the issues in this case have “significant ramifications for the United States’ foreign relations and may affect the reciprocal treatment of the United States and its property in the courts of other nations.”
A spokesperson for Argentina President Javier Milei applauded the order and called this ruling a “Key day in the YPF trial” on social media platform X, and Secretary of Finance Pablo Quirno also hailed the ruling on X.
In 2023, a judge in the Southern District of New York entered the $16.1 billion judgment against the Republic in litigation brought by two YPF minority investors. The plaintiffs claim that when Argentina expropriated a majority stake in YPF from Spain's Repsol in 2012, it should have made a tender offer to minority shareholders.
During Argentina’s appeal of the judgment, plaintiffs moved for an order requiring the Republic to turn over Argentina’s YPF shares—located in Argentina—to partially satisfy the judgment. The U.S. Government, under both the Biden and Trump administrations, opposed the turnover order on the ground that it violates both U.S. and international law. The district court nevertheless granted the plaintiffs’ turnover motion in June.
After the district court denied the Republic’s request for a stay, S&C sought an emergency stay from the Second Circuit, supported by the U.S. Government as amicus. The Firm argued that the district court’s order violated well-established federal-common-law principles of sovereign immunity, would interfere with U.S. foreign policy interests and would require Argentina to violate its own laws.
The S&C team representing the Republic includes Robert Giuffra Jr., Sergio Galvis, Amanda Davidoff, Tom White, Morgan Ratner, Adam Brebner, Pedro José Izquierdo, Arturo Carlos Schultz, Samantha Briggs, Madeline Jenks, Hannah Masters, María Laura Pessarini, Sabrina Solow, Tzirel Klein, Christopher Benos, Venus Wang and Arturo Zapata.