Cotemar Sues ABS Affiliate in New York to Enforce $59m Claim
Key Takeaways
- •Cotemar is seeking enforcement in New York of a $34.8 million Mexican judgment against ABSG Consulting, a subsidiary of the American Bureau of Shipping.
- •Including interest under Mexican and New York law, Cotemar values its total claim at $59.4 million.
- •The underlying work involved supplying personnel and equipment for transporting and installing a modular rig on a Gulf of Mexico offshore platform between September 2017 and March 2018.
- •A Mexico City court ruled in Cotemar's favor in March 2022 and an appellate court upheld the judgment in June 2023.
- •Cotemar asserts that prime contractor Tamaulipas Modular Rig had already paid ABSG for the work, but ABSG withheld payment to Cotemar.
Mexican offshore services contractor Cotemar has filed legal proceedings in New York seeking to enforce a $34.8m judgment originally handed down by a Mexican court against ABSG Consulting, a subsidiary of classification society the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).
Cotemar values the total claim at $59.4m after adding interest calculated under both Mexican and New York law.
The dispute dates back to work performed in the Gulf of Mexico between September 2017 and March 2018. ABSG engaged Cotemar to supply personnel and equipment for the transportation and installation of a modular rig on an offshore platform. Modular rigs of this kind are designed to be moved between fixed offshore platforms, allowing operators to drill or work over wells without dedicating a permanent rig to a single location.
According to Cotemar, a court in Mexico City ruled in the contractor's favour in March 2022, finding that the contracted work had been completed and accepted. An appellate court upheld that judgment in June 2023.
Cotemar also states that the prime contractor on the project, Tamaulipas Modular Rig, had already paid ABSG for the work, yet ABSG withheld payment to Cotemar. The case highlights the payment-chain risk that subcontractors face on offshore projects, where funds pass through multiple contracting layers and downstream suppliers often depend on upstream payment decisions they do not control.
The New York filing asks the New York State Supreme Court to recognise and enforce the Mexican judgment. Cross-border enforcement of foreign judgments through New York courts is a common legal avenue for creditors seeking to recover awards against parties with US-based assets or operations. Recognition of a foreign judgment is not automatic; the US court will examine factors such as whether the foreign proceeding afforded due process before deciding whether to enforce the award.
Neither ABS nor ABSG has issued a public response to the lawsuit. The American Bureau of Shipping, founded in 1862, is one of the world's major maritime classification societies, providing verification and consulting services across the shipping and offshore industries. A hearing or ruling on the enforcement request, along with any response filed by ABS or ABSG, would be the next developments to watch in the case.
