France’s top appeals court has rejected the latest appeal by self-described Filipino descendants of a 19th-century sultanate in their multijurisdiction fight with the Malaysian government.

The Paris-based Cour de cassation ruled that a Spanish arbitrator lacked standing in France to order the Southeast Asian country to pay $15 billion to the claimants. The arbitrator had moved the case to France in 2021 after a Spanish court voided his appointment in Spain.

The Malaysian government is represented in France by Bredin Prat. The firm Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes is representing the claimants.

Malaysian Minister of Law and Institutional Reform Azalina Othman Said described the French ruling in a Facebook post, calling it a “historic victory.”

“This important decision means that the initial basis for the sham final award that ordered Malaysia to pay the $15 billion is not recognized under French law,” she said.

She also said the ruling “will help preserve the sanctity of international arbitration as an alternative form of dispute resolution.”

The case now returns to the lower Paris Court of Appeal.

The French ruling follows several other setbacks for the heirs. They lost their final appeal in the Netherlands when the Supreme Court dismissed their case in September.

The claimants were represented by Houthoff in the Netherlands.

The involvement of third-party litigation funder Therium—and its strategy of hitting multiple jurisdictions with efforts to collect—has led to calls for regulation of such funding in the EU.

The Sulu case began in 2018 when a group of Filipino citizens, descendants of the last Sultan of Sulu, claimed compensation from Malaysia under an 1878 lease agreement for land now in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island.

The claimants still have pending claims in Luxembourg to seize Malaysian assets. They’ve also filed a related complaint against the Spanish government in the Washington, D.C.-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Law.com International reached out to lawyers for the Sulu claimants.