A years-long international investment dispute centered on a Santo Domingo landfill has hit a decisive new milestone, after a U.S. federal judge formally confirmed a binding arbitration order requiring the Dominican Republic to pay close to $44 million in damages to Canadian billionaire investor Michael Lee-Chin, local Dominican outlet El Nacional reported.
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected the Dominican government’s legal bid to vacate the 2023 international tribunal ruling, instead upholding the panel’s finding that the state illegally seized Lee-Chin’s investment when it terminated Lajun Corp.’s operating concession for the Duquesa landfill in 2017 and seized direct control of the waste management facility located in Santo Domingo Norte.
The structured compensation award breaks down into $38.7 million in direct damages for the unlawful expropriation, $4.8 million to remedy unfair regulatory treatment, plus accrued interest and adjudicated legal fees. When combined, the total owed to Lee-Chin amounts to just over $43.6 million, a figure that rounds to nearly $44 million.
The origins of the dispute stretch back to 2018, when Lee-Chin launched his formal claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the leading global body for resolving cross-border investment conflicts. In his filing, the investor argued that the Dominican Republic’s actions breached binding investor protection provisions laid out in the CARICOM regional trade agreement.
The latest ruling from the U.S. federal court eliminates the last major avenue for the Dominican Republic to challenge the award, leaving the government stuck with a binding payment obligation that marks one of the largest international arbitration losses the country has faced in recent years. The outcome also reinforces the enforceability of international investor rulings against sovereign states, setting a notable precedent for future cross-border investment disputes in the Caribbean region.