A collection of the most recent US international arbitration decisions is available here. Decisions can be quickly retrieved by using the filter tools below.
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Cheruvoth v. Seadream Yacht Club Inc., No. 20-14450 (11th Cir. Oct. 6, 2021)10/06/2021
Court of appeals affirmed district court’s order compelling arbitration under the New York Convention. Court of appeals found written agreements existed between the parties, as the conditions precedent to contract formation were substantially complied with and a copy of the executed agreements was supplied to defendants.
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Podgorny v. Ally Finance, No. 21-CV-00288 (D. Ariz. Sept. 23, 2021)09/23/2021
Court denied defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and granted motion to dismiss with leave to amend in a case involving pro se plaintiffs. Court found that it could not determine whether the disputes were covered by an arbitration agreement until the plaintiffs had filed a complaint with sufficient factual allegations to determine whether arbitration was necessary.
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Tieszen v. Ebay Inc., No. 21-CV-04002-KES (D.S.D. Sept. 21, 2021)09/21/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to compel arbitration in a product liability suit. Court found that there was a valid and enforceable arbitration clause in the user agreement consented to by the plaintiff and that the claim fell within its scope.
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Absolute Nevada LLC v. Grand Majestic Riverboat Company LLC, No. 21-CV-11479-PKC (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 17, 2021)09/17/2021
Court granted motion to confirm arbitral awards against respondent in a case arising out of a shipping charter dispute. Court stayed motion to confirm arbitral award against third party pending outcome of an appeal.
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Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Bonta, No. 20-15291 (9th Cir. Sept. 15, 2021)09/15/2021
Court held that California Government Code § 12953 and Labor Code § 433 were preempted to the extent that they applied to executed arbitration agreements covered by the FAA. Court also vacated district court’s preliminary injunction, holding that Section § 432.6 was not preempted by the FAA because it applied only in the absence of an agreement to arbitrate and expressly provided for the validity and enforceability of agreements to arbitrate.
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Synopsys, Inc. v. Avatar Integrated Systems, Inc., No. 20-CV-04151-WHO (N.D. Cal. Sept. 9, 2021)09/09/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to stay the entire action under the FAA, including a stay of non-arbitrable issues, finding that even though it was not apparent that the FAA mandated a stay of the entire action, the conservation of judicial resources from a discretionary stay of the entire action outweighed any potential harm to plaintiff.
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Nordic Water Products AB v. Veolia Water Solutions Technologies Support, No. 21-CV-317-FL (E.D.N.C. Sept. 1, 2021)09/01/2021
Court granted motions to compel arbitration in related cases arising out of a patent dispute. Court found that the issues raised by the plaintiffs were subject to arbitration under the terms of the parties’ arbitration agreement.
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ArtiCure Inc. v. Meng No. 19-4067, No. 19-4067 (6th Cir. Aug. 27, 2021)08/27/2021
Court considered whether Ohio law permitted defendants to enforce an arbitration clause even though they did not sign the contract. Court agreed with district court in rejecting defendant’s equitable estoppel argument and one of their agency arguments but remanded for reconsideration of defendants’ second agency claim.
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Iberoamericana de Hidrocarburos S.A. v. Exterran Corporation, No. 4:21-CV-01840 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 19, 2021)08/19/2021
Court granted defendants’ motion to compel ICC arbitration and to stay the case pending arbitration. Pursuant to the FAA, court found a valid agreement to arbitrate and concluded that the dispute fell within the scope of the agreement.
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Cathay Capital Holdings II, LP v. Zheng, No. 3:20-CV-01365-JBA (D. Conn. Aug. 18, 2021)08/18/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and stay the case. Court found that the parties intended to delegate the question of arbitrability to the arbitrator by incorporating the UNCITRAL and HKAIC rules into the agreements. Court denied plaintiff’s motion to remand to state court, finding the action related to arbitration agreements subject to the New York Convention, which confers subject matter jurisdiction on the court.
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CLMS Management Services Limit, et al v. Amwins Brokerage of Georgia LL, et al, No. 20-35428 (9th Cir. Aug. 12, 2021)08/12/2021
Court affirmed district court’s order compelling arbitration in an insurance dispute involving U.S. policy-holders and a U.K. insurance company following the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Court found that the McCarran-Ferguson Act, a Washington law that prohibits the enforcement of arbitration clauses in insurance contracts, does not prohibit enforcement of the New York Convention such that Washington law controls, because the Convention is self-executing and therefore not reverse-preempted by the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
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Takiedine v. 7-Eleven Inc., No. 17-CV-04518 (E.D. Pa. Jul. 29, 2021)07/29/2021
Court granted plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration of a previous order compelling arbitration. Court found on reconsideration that the arbitration agreement at issue was invalid. Court allowed the motion despite it being untimely because it found that denying reconsideration would leave the parties in legal limbo.
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Gerlach v. Tickmark Inc., No. 21-CV-02768 (N.D.Cal. July. 28, 2021)07/28/2021
Court granted motion to compel arbitration in a contract dispute. Court found that the parties entered into a valid arbitration agreement and “clearly and unmistakably” intended to delegate questions of arbitrability to the arbitrator.
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Mitas Endustri Sanayi Ticaret A.S. v. Valmont Industries Inc., No. 20-CV-01285-CFC (D. Del. Jul. 27, 2021)07/27/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to compel arbitration of claims alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and deceptive trade practices. Court found that there was a valid arbitration provision in a Non-Disclosure Agreement between the parties.
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Lavvan Inc. v. Amyris Inc., No. 20-CV-07386 (S.D.N.Y. Jul. 26, 2021)07/26/2021
Court denied a motion to compel arbitration of claims alleging trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement. Court found that there was an explicit agreement between the parties that intellectual property disputes would be determined by a court and that requiring the parties to arbitrate would ignore the clear language of the parties’ agreement.
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Nidec Corporation v. Seargate Technology LLC, No. 1:21-CV-00052-RGA (D. Del. July 20, 2021)07/20/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and stayed the case pending arbitration of the issue of arbitrability, finding that the parties unmistakably delegated to the issue of arbitrability to an arbitrator when the parties incorporated the JAMS International Arbitration Rules into their agreement.
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Fischer v. Instant Checkmate LLC, No. 1:19-CV-04892 (N.D. Ill. July 19, 2021)07/19/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to compel arbitration, finding that plaintiff’s registration on defendant’s website and clicking “Continue” constituted acceptance of defendant’s Terms of Use, which included an arbitration agreement.
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Tuckman v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 20-11242 (11th Cir. July 7, 2021)07/07/2021
Court of appeals affirmed district court decision denying appellants’ motion to compel arbitration, finding that the arbitration agreement was not enforceable as to plaintiff where: (1) plaintiff did not sign the agreement in his individual capacity and (2) no equitable considerations existed to allow non-signatory defendants to enforce the agreement.
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PPT Research Inc. v. Solvay USA Inc., No. 20-CV-02645-JLS (E.D. Pa. July 7, 2021)07/07/2021
Court granted defendants’ motion to compel arbitration and stayed the matter pending arbitration. Court found the arbitration provision in the reciprocal confidentiality agreement signed between the parties properly delegated the question of arbitrability to the arbitrator and the use of the word “may” in the arbitration provision did not render the clause permissive. Court also addressed plaintiff’s “effective vindication” argument finding plaintiff was “disingenuous” in claiming financial distress while simultaneously seeking to proceed in federal court litigation.
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Setty v. Shrinivas Sugandhalaya LLP, No. 18-35573 (9th Cir. July 7, 2021)07/07/2021
Court affirmed the district court’s order denying defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and to grant a stay pending arbitration on remand from the Supreme Court. In applying federal common law, the Court found the claims have no relationship to the partnership deed containing the arbitration agreement at issue in the appeal. The ownership issue at question does not stem from the partnership deed and therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting defendants’ argument for equitable estoppel or denying its motion to compel.
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Harren & Partner Ship Management De Mexico S.A.P.I. v. American Bureau of Shipping, No. 1:21-CV-05361-LGS (S.D.N.Y. July 7, 2021)07/07/2021
Court granted petitioners’ request to preliminary enjoin the arbitration before the Society of Maritime Arbitrators, finding that the petitioners established a likelihood of success on the merits that there was no arbitration agreement in force between the parties under the New York Convention, since there was no written arbitral agreement and they could not be bound by estoppel. Court found that petitioners showed a likelihood of irreparable harm absent relief, that the balance of equities favored the petitioners, and that an injunction was not against the public interest.
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Infrared Environmental Infrastructure GP Limited v. Kingdom of Spain, No. 20-CV-00817-JDB (D.D.C. June 29, 2021)06/29/2021
Court denied the Kingdom of Spain’s motion to dismiss action to enforce an ICSID arbitral award and plaintiffs’ cross-motion for summary judgment without prejudice, finding that its ruling would directly and prematurely contradict the judgment of the ICSID tribunal, pending the resolution of ICSID annulment proceedings. Court also granted Spain’s motion to stay pending resolution of the annulment proceedings, holding that the balance of hardships favored a stay. Court also denied plaintiffs’ request that Spain be ordered to provide a bond to secure the ICSID award, finding that such an order would undermine the court’s decision not to rule on the validity of the ICSID award.
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CKR Law LLP v. Anderson Investments International, LLC, No. 20-CV-07937 (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 21, 2021)06/21/2021
Court granted petitioner’s motion for default judgment in a petition to compel arbitration under the FAA. Court declined to inquire into personal jurisdiction at this stage, reasoning that the Second Circuit required such petitions to be ‘decided with dispatch’ and that a respondent would have opportunities later to appear and contest jurisdiction.
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Boyd-Holsinger v. Peloton College LLC., No. 19-CV-01686 (N.D.Tex. Jun. 21, 2021)06/21/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to compel arbitration of claims brought under the False Claims Act. Court found that there were valid agreements to arbitrate between the parties that encompassed the claims at issue.
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Julabo USA, Inc. v. Juchheim, No. 5:19-CV-01412-JDW (E.D. Pa. June 9, 2021)06/09/2021
Court granted motion to compel ICDR arbitration and stay the litigation pursuant to the FAA.
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Bryon Stafford v. Rite Aid Corporation, No. 20-55333 (9th Cir. May 21, 2021)05/21/2021
Court of appeals affirmed district court’s order denying motion to compel arbitration in putative class action, holding that equitable estoppel did not apply to bind lead plaintiff to the arbitration agreements in contracts between defendant and third parties.
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Peiran Zheng v. Live Auctioneers LLC, No. 20-CV-9744 (S.D.N.Y. May 21, 2021)05/21/2021
Court granted motion to compel arbitration and stay the litigation, finding that “clickwrap” agreement on defendant’s website created a binding contract to arbitrate.
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Uttam Chand Rakesh Kumar v. Derco Associates Inc., No. 1:21-CV-00692-DAD (E.D. Cal. May. 17, 2021)05/17/2021
Court denied plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in a contract dispute case where plaintiffs were seeking a declaratory judgment that the arbitration agreement between the parties was unenforceable. Court held that plaintiffs had not demonstrated that they were likely to succeed on the merits of the action because they had breached the contract and the question of whether the arbitration clause had been terminated or repudiated is a matter for the arbitrator to decide.
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Cube Infrastructure Fund SICAV v. Kingdom of Spain, 1:20-CV-01708-EGS (D. D.C. May. 17, 2021)05/17/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion for a stay and denied without prejudice defendant’s motion for to dismiss in an enforcement case. Court held that the most efficient and fairest course was to stay the case while defendant’s pending application to annul the award was resolved by the ICSID, reasoning that considerations of international comity also weighed in favor of a stay given that the case involved addressing a conflict between decades-old treaties and newly minted EU case law.
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Midwest Air Technologies, Inc. v. JC US Inc., No. 21-CV-00337 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 29, 2021)04/29/2021
Court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss for improper venue. The Court found that the parties’ inclusion of the AAA rules in the arbitration clause constituted a clear agreement by the parties to arbitrate threshold arbitrability issues.
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The WE Project, Inc. v. Relavistic, LLC, No. 20-CV-02873-JG (N.D. Ohio Apr. 28, 2021)04/28/2021
Court denied defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. Analyzing Maryland law as selected by the contracting parties, court found that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable for want of mutual consideration. Court held that the agreement provided for arbitration at the sole discretion of defendant.
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Stauber v. Per Mar Security and Research Corp, No. 20-CV-00775-JDP (W.D. Wis. Apr. 27, 2021)04/27/2021
Court ordered a hearing on defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. Pro se plaintiff argued that the arbitration agreement was invalid or unconscionable. In reading the pro se filing generously, the court found plaintiff’s allegations raised a plausible concern that the signed agreement was a product of fraud.
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Phillips v. Weatherford US, LP, No. 20-CV-01104 -RP (W.D. Tex. Apr. 27, 2021)04/27/2021
Court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss, or in the alternative to stay, and compel arbitration concluding that there remained a genuine fact issue as to the validity of the arbitration agreement. Court held that defendant failed to produce sufficient evidence to establish that plaintiff, a former employee, received notice of the company’s dispute resolution program, which mandates arbitration.
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Healey v. Elliot, P.C., No. 20-CV-13209-MAG-RSW (E.D. Mich. Apr. 27, 2021)04/27/2021
Court granted plaintiff’s motion for leave to take limited discovery to respond to defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. The court noted that limited discovery requests of this kind are entertained by the Sixth Circuit because motions to compel arbitration are evaluated similarly to motions for summary judgment.
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In re Stubhub Refund Litigation, No. 20-MD-02951-MSG (N.D. Cal. Apr. 27, 2021)04/27/2021
Court provided defendant leave to amend its motion to compel arbitration after plaintiff introduced new evidence at the motion’s hearing. Plaintiffs argued that the existence of an agreement to arbitrate may depend on whether plaintiffs purchased tickets from the website or the mobile application. The court granted defendants time to file a supplemental brief to respond to this argument.
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Jackson v. EK Real Estate Servs. of NY, LLC, No. 20-CV-03867 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 27, 2021)04/27/2021
Court vacated a memorandum and opinion denying defendant’s motion to compel arbitration because the parties agreed to settle. The court found that vacatur was in the public interest as the case involved an indigent homeowner facing eviction represented by pro bono counsel.
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Unitech Composites, Inc. v. Avcorp Industries Inc., No. 3:18-CV-1399-YY (D. Or. Apr. 17, 2021)04/17/2021
Court declined to adopt magistrate judge’s findings and recommendation to grant defendant’s motion to compel arbitration, finding that defendant waived its right to arbitration.
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Cargill Inc. v. Triorient LLC, No. 20-CV-10058 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 15, 2021)04/15/2021
Court granted petitioner’s motion to confirm a final arbitral award in a case relating to a breach of a charter party. Court found no genuine factual dispute as to the propriety of the final award and duly confirmed.
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Diaz v. Popular Securities, LLC, No. 3:19-CV-01065-JAG (D.P.R. Apr. 12, 2021)04/12/2021
Court denied petitioner’s petition to vacate arbitration award and granted respondent’s cross-motion to confirm the award. Court found that petitioner had failed to show fraud on the arbitral tribunal, partiality, or arbitrator misbehavior to justify vacating the award.
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Balwin v. Beeche, No. 4:20-CV-00639-ALM (E.D. Tex. Apr. 12, 2021)04/12/2021
Court granted defendants’ motion to compel arbitration in a contract dispute. Court held that the claims were within the scope of the arbitration agreement and plaintiffs could be compelled to arbitrate the case in Costa Rica.
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Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc., v. Adkins, No. 1:19-CV-00685-DRC (S.D. Ohio Apr. 12, 2021)04/12/2021
Court denied defendants’ motion to compel arbitration. Court rejected defendants’ arguments that equitable estoppel compelled arbitration and that plaintiff was an intended third-party beneficiary and therefore bound by the arbitration agreement.
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F.T. Maritime Services. Ltd., v. Lambda Shipholding Ltd., No. 1:20-CV-02111-ER (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 12, 2021)04/12/2021
Court denied plaintiff’s motion to compel arbitration and appoint an arbitrator holding that plaintiff’s claim was barred by collateral estoppel. Court went on to say that, even if the plaintiff’s claim was not collaterally estopped, it would fail on the merits because it was not clear that any version of plaintiff’s terms and conditions were incorporated into the agreement at issue.
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JPaulJones, L.P. v. Zurich General Insurance Co. (China) Ltd., No. 3:20-CV-01767 (D. Or. Apr. 9, 2021)04/09/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens. Court held that arbitration and forum selection clauses were valid, unambiguous, and did not violate plaintiff’s right to trial by jury under the Oregon Constitution.
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KPA Promotion Awards Inc. v. JPMorgan Chase Co., No. 1:20-CV-03910-NRB (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 8, 2021)04/08/2021
Court granted defendant’s motion to compel arbitration, finding that the parties’ incorporation of the JAMS and AAA Rules constituted clear and unmistakable evidence that the parties intended to delegate issues of arbitrability to an arbitrator. Accordingly, court declined to consider plaintiffs’ arguments regarding the scope of the arbitration agreement.
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McFarlane v. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC., No. 20-CV09275-AB-JPR (C.D.Cal. Apr. 8, 2021)04/08/2021
Court denied defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and to stay proceedings. Court found that because defendant was not a party to the agreement at issue, it could not enforce the arbitration provision.
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Rowland v. Sandy Morris Financial Estate Planning Services LLC, No. 20-1187 (4th Cir. Apr. 7, 2021)04/07/2021
Court of appeals affirmed lower court order denying motion to compel arbitration, finding that the parties had not agreed to arbitrate where there were material differences between the versions of the contract signed by each party. Court found that even though there was a delegation clause in the underlying arbitration agreement, the court continued to have a duty to decide threshold issues of contract formation.
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In re Checking Account Overdraft Litig., No. 19-14097 (11th Cir. Apr. 07, 2021)04/07/2021
Court of appeals affirmed district court’s enforcement of arbitration clauses in the account agreements of five classes of former and current customers in a class action against a bank relating to overdraft fees. Court held that gateway questions about unconscionability were not for the district court to decide because they had been delegated to the arbitrator under a delegation clause.
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Credit Suisse AG v. Graham, No. 1:21-CV-00951-LJL (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 7, 2021)04/07/2021
Court denied petitioners’ petition for an order enjoining arbitration and granted respondent’s motion to compel arbitration of claims arising out of a failed joint venture. Court held that it should be up to the arbitrator and not the court to decide whether a second arbitration is barred by res judicata.
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Hearn v. Comcast Cable Communications LLC, No. 19-14455 (11th Cir. Apr. 5, 2021)04/05/2021
Court of appeals reversed lower court decision denying motion to compel arbitration, finding that an arbitration provision applying to all disputes “relating to [defendant]” was applicable where plaintiff’s claim pertained to the underlying agreement even where the dispute arose after the agreement was terminated.
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Norris v. Aon PLC, No.3:21-CV-00932-CRB (N.D. Cal. Apr. 2, 2021)04/02/2021
Court granted defendants’ motion to compel arbitration, finding that the presence of a delegation clause constituted clear and unmistakable evidence that the parties intended gateway issues of arbitrability to be determined by an arbitrator.