Dr Wolfgang Peter speaks at 45th ICC Institute Annual Conference on Monetary Remedies

Dr Peter spoke in the opening session of the 45th ICC Institute Annual Conference on Monetary Remedies in International Arbitration on 14 November 2025 in Paris. Dr Peter provided a thought-provoking exploration of “The Crisis of Excessive Damages in International Arbitration”

In the presentation Dr Peter explained that there is a crisis of excessive damages, both in commercial and investor-state arbitrations, which threatens the acceptability of arbitration.

Highly trained and experienced experts present damages calculations in single- or double-digit billions of dollars which can represent one hundred to two hundred times the initial investment value or the initially expected profits from a (breached) long-term contract. Thus, in the P&ID v. Nigeria arbitration (the award was annulled for corruption and not because of excessive damages), a planned investment of USD 40 million became a damages award of USD 6.6 billion.

Such excessive damages calculations mostly arise with income-based valuation methods such as DCF.

Dr Peter’s presentation described the mechanisms leading to excessive damages calculations and concluded with the key point that arbitral tribunals not just need independence from damages experts but most importantly sound business judgments to avoid unrealistic or even absurd results, which already greatly harm the future of arbitration.