Cairn Energy lawsuit in US against Air India may stumble over precedent

The key issue would be whether Air India is an alter ego of the Government of India A lawsuit filed in New York by Cairn Energy Plc seeking to declare national carrier Air India as an alter ego of the government to pressurise India to pay the $1.2 billion arbitration award the British oil and gas firm won in a retrospective tax dispute, could stumble if the court takes a recent similar case as a precedent.
The precedent relates to a case brought by Lithuanian creditors against Tajik Air, the national airline of Tajikistan, to enforce a $20 million award. “We were able to get the lawsuit dismissed because the US courts found that Tajik Air was not an alter ego of the Tajik Republic,” Sudhanshu Roy, International Associate at Washington-based law firm Foley Hoag LLP, which represented Tajik Air in the case, told BusinessLine.