A frequent goal of trade pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement is to speed and simplify the settlement of cross-border commercial disputes out of court. But the limits on their effectiveness are visible in a five-year dispute between an American company and the Mexican government, which went back to court yet again this week.
The company, the Metalclad Corporation of Newport Beach, Calif., has been waiting for a $15.6 million compensation award since May, when a judge upheld an earlier finding that Mexico had violated Nafta's investor-protection rules.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E6DD123EF93AA25753C1A9679C8B63
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