WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The Republic of Moldova has been sued in District of Columbia federal court by a law firm that says it hasn't been paid for its services.
"Precedent for this can be seen in a case where the Government of Abu Dhabi failed to pay a former advisor in exchange for valuable services rendered in the United States, as it had promised to do during meets with advisor," says a lawsuit filed April 26 by The Bukh Law Firm of New York.
The firm says it performed research, drafted legal documents and made court appearances on behalf of Moldova from November 2018 to March 2021. Moldova went to court in 2014 when a Ukrainian energy company then known as LLC Energoalliance sought to confirm an arbitration award against a Moldovan state-owned utility.
An appeal vacated a $58,591,058.50 award, the lawsuit says, but Moldova never paid the Bukh firm the $180,715 it says it is owed. The Bukh firm dropped out of post-appeal representation of Moldova in March 2021 because Moldova stopped communicating with it and refused to pay its fees, the case says.
"Plaintiff has sent letters to Defendant attempting to collect the debt on March 15, 2021, and December 7, 2021," the suit says, "to no avail."