The Mutual Advantages Assurance Firm has filed civil and prison lawsuits towards Bea Mountain Mining Company right here, accusing it of malicious prosecution and abuse of judicial course of.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Monrovia, July 11, 2025: The dispute arises from a beforehand settled arbitration case involving Worldwide Development Engineering (ICE), for whom Mutual had issued efficiency bonds.
In 2017, a world arbitration awarded Bea Mountain $6.67 million in a counterclaim towards ICE. This award was confirmed by a U.S. federal court docket in 2018, successfully closing the matter beneath worldwide regulation.
Nonetheless, Bea Mountain allegedly reopened the identical declare in Liberia in 2021, prompting Mutual to take authorized motion. Mutual argues that the brand new lawsuit is a replica case supposed to harass and harm its popularity, regardless of not being a celebration to the unique arbitration.
The Assurance Firm’s authorized response contains civil swimsuit for malicious prosecution and damages, a petition for a Prohibition to cease the Liberian proceedings, and a prison grievance alleging fraudulent litigation and financial sabotage.
The case raises broader issues about Liberia’s enforcement of worldwide arbitration awards and the potential misuse of its authorized system in company disputes.
This web award was subsequently decreased to judgment in the US District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, beneath the New York Conference on the Recognition and Enforcement of Overseas Arbitral Awards on April 18, 2018, by Justice of the Peace Choose Michael S. Nachmanoff, United States Justice of the Peace Choose who famous that the ICE had belongings within the jurisdiction to fulfill the judgment.
The discharge additional said that the judgment introduced finality to this declare. Three years later, Bea Mountain hid these information and instituted one other authorized motion on the identical award in Liberia. Mutual, due to this fact, asserts that any try to recuperate the identical quantity in Liberia constitutes duplicative litigation, authorized harassment, and abuse of judicial course of.
“Bea Mountain’s persistence in pursuing a declare that has already been resolved by a reliable arbitral tribunal and enforced by a U.S. federal court docket is unjustified and malicious,” mentioned Cllr. Aloysius T. Jappah, the authorized counsel for Mutual mentioned. “It is a textbook case of malicious prosecution, designed to inflict business hurt and public embarrassment on a licensed insurer who was not even a celebration to arbitral proceedings in London.” The discharge was added.
Mutual emphasised that it stays dedicated to the rule of regulation, the sanctity of arbitral choices, and the integrity of Liberia’s monetary system. Whereas the corporate honors all legitimate obligations, it can vigorously defend itself towards makes an attempt to weaponize the authorized system to safe unjust enrichment.
