American Investor's Lawsuit Against Polish-Controlled Energy Titan May Factor Into Trump's Poland Visit

American energy company Invenergy LLC filed a $325 million suit against Poland’s state-controlled Tauron Polska Energia SA Monday ━ just ahead of President Donald Trump’s diplomatic visit.

The suit complicates Trump’s Wednesday pitstop, which some consider a friendly gathering of political kin in advance of a grueling Group of 20 summit.

Considering the lawsuit, the long-planned timing of which Invenergy Chief Legal Officer Michael Blazer said was "purely coincidental," some now regard the visit as a test of the president’s commitment to fair trade for U.S. companies. Whether he intends to broach the topic or pressure a favorable ruling for Invenergy is yet to be seen.

The Legal Dilemma

Invenergy, which invested about $595 million in Polish wind projects over the last 12 years, alleges a Tauron subsidiary’s unlawful termination of 15-year agreements involving wind-farm electricity and Green Certificates.

The plaintiff argues that Tauron took active measures to shirk its contractual obligations shortly after negotiating them in 2010, including through asset disposal and liquidation of the subsidiary.

"We made a long-term investment in Poland with confidence that a legal framework existed to protect our investments from this type of behaviour,” Founder and CEO Michael Polsky said in a press release. “This case will test the assumptions of our original investment decision and signal to the market whether Poland is a country where investors can rely on the sanctity of contracts."

Another angle of the suit charges former officials from the Polish State Treasury, Tauron’s largest shareholder, with conspiratorial involvement in the violations.

The case echoes a 2016 precedent, during which the Polish Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff.

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