Law firm Bartlit Beck awarded $50 million fee in appeal against Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada

A US federal appeals court ruled that Japanese pachinko billionaire Kazuo Okada cannot escape an arbitrator's 2019 decision requiring him to pay law firm Bartlit Beck $50 million in legal fees for services rendered in a lawsuit against Wynn Resorts Ltd.

In its unanimous three-judge ruling, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to set aside the award based on Kazuo Okada's claims he was unable to present his case to the panel of arbitrators.

Okada had participated in the arbitration for over a year but stopped before an evidentiary hearing.

The arbitration panel awarded Bartlit Beck $50 million by default.

According to the court, Okada cannot now complain that he was unfairly deprived of the chance to win as he took himself out of the race.

Okada now owes Chicago-based Bartlit Beck over $63 million after accrued interest.

Bartlit Beck represented Okada against Wynn Resorts after the latter forced Okada's Universal Entertainment Corp to sell back its stake in the company at a discount following an internal anti-corruption investigation.

After the case was settled in Okada's favor in 2018 for $2.6 billion, Bartlit Beck said Okada refused to pay the $50 million contingent fee.

Okada argued the arbitration panel's decision to move forward without him was unreasonable and unfair as he was unable to travel due to a medical emergency.

But the 7th Circuit panel noted that relevant email communication shows that Okada was not going to participate in the hearing.