Recently, GLO successfully navigated a distribution agreement dispute on behalf of an Austrian company against a prominent Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer and obtained a favorable arbitral award from the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC). The arbitral award supported our client for the entire loss of profit and mandated the opposing party to bear 95% of our client’s legal costs and arbitration costs. Currently, the case has concluded as the opposing party voluntarily fulfilled its obligation under the arbitral award.
This arbitration case was represented and led by Lei Niu with Haowen Chen in his team.
In this case, our client entered into a distribution agreement with the opposing party, designating our client as the exclusive distributor in Austria of a certain brand of electric vehicles manufactured by the opposing party. However, after our client invested significant funds in brand promotion and channel expansion, the opposing party authorized a German company to sell the same brand of electric vehicles in Europe, thereby denying the validity of the distribution agreement signed with our client. Consequently, in accordance with the agreement, GLO initiated arbitration at CIETAC, seeking compensation for the client's actual losses and three years of loss of profits.
The complexity of the case lies in calculating the losses. GLO initially calculated the client's actual and loss of profits leveraging the understanding of business and legal analysis to initiate the arbitration. During the arbitration proceeding, GLO engaged an accounting firm to provide expert opinions on the loss of profit, validating the reasonableness of the calculations. Ultimately, GLO assisted the client in obtaining full support from the arbitral tribunal regarding the loss of profits.
GLO’s team has a wealth of experience in resolving distribution agreement disputes, and remains dedicated to providing excellent legal services, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of our clients.
