<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">All,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">This is the question I was going to raise on the last call, but we ran out of time.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">This question may already have been answered, but I think it is important to confirm that the "new and improved" IRP can be enforced in courts. This is a critical feature of the Accountability mechanisms. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">The old IRP was not capable of being enforced, because it was not binding (one of several defenses against enforcement of an arbitral award); there may have been other reasons, but I don't know them.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">The new IRP is binding, so that issue is resolved. However, I don't recall whether we got an opinion (from Jones Day, Sidley or Adler & Colvin) that the IRP now meets all criteria for enforceability under applicable laws (at a minimum the Cal Arbitration Act, the Fed Arb Act, and the 2-3 leading international Conventions relating to arbitral awards). This would include affirming that the common defenses would not be available (recalling that "non-binding nature" is a defense to be raised by the party not enforcing the award, rather than a requirement placed on the filing party).</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">If we have an opinion (formal or otherwise) of counsel and someone could point me to it that would be great.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Lastly, we need to have counsel confirm that our rules do not inadvertently remove the IRP from enforceability or provide defenses that the non-enforcing party can raise.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Greg</div><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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