Reinsurance & Arbitration Focus

The arbitration award stemmed from the pro se complaint of Joseph Ruzindana for wrongful termination against his former employer, FCA US. In the arbitration, Ruzindana claimed that he was harassed and discriminated against by FCA US.

After the arbitrator ...

Ascension Data & Analytics LLC terminated its contract with Pairprep Inc. for data extraction services after an alleged data breach involving Pairprep’s servers and Pairprep’s alleged “failure to extract reliable data.” Ascension subsequently ...

National Golf Management LLC sold 13 golf courses to a buyer represented by broker Andrew Waldo. NGM was represented in a previous transaction by Michael Cousins. Although Cousins had no written representation agreement with any of the parties involved in the ...

Dana Jennings and Joseph Furlong each bought a car from Carvana, a nationwide online used car dealer. On the day of their purchases, each signed three separate documents: a “retail purchasing agreement,” a “retail installment sales contract,” and an ...

Under New Jersey’s Tenure Employees Hearing Law, when a school district files tenure charges against an employee, the state commissioner of education must refer the case to arbitration if he or she determines that the charges are “sufficient to warrant ...

Harbor Homeowner’s Association Inc. sued its insurers in Louisiana state court seeking to recover damages allegedly caused by the insurers’ failure to pay claims related to Hurricane Ida. The insurers removed to federal court, arguing that the action ...

Texas Insurance Co. sued Talisman Specialty Underwriters Inc. for breaching the parties’ managing general agent (MGA) agreement by authorizing the issuance of hundreds of insurance policies by Texas Insurance in sectors (like marine and energy) where ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a decision confirming an arbitration award in favor of Charles Schwab & Co. over allegations of discovery abuses that purportedly rendered the arbitration proceeding unfair. We previously wrote about the ...

Interactive Brokers LLC filed an action in the Southern District of New York seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions against an arbitration proceeding initiated by a group of non-signatories to an agreement between Interactive Brokers and an ...

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the denial of a motion to compel arbitration filed by the plaintiff in the matter. The court noted that arbitration “can be waived in a variety of circumstances, including by substantially invoking the ...

The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of a defamation action based on statements made during a court-ordered arbitration. The “judicial statements privilege,” as it’s known in Kentucky, provides an “absolute privilege” for ...

After a dispute arose between Amazon and one of its "delivery service partners," Amazon sought to compel arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement in the companies’ contract. The district court ordered the parties to arbitrate, and the delivery ...

The insured argued that the arbitration agreement at issue was not enforceable under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards because the agreement was not signed by both parties and therefore was not “an agreement in ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the confirmation of an arbitration award issued under a bilateral investment treaty between Libya and Cyprus. We previously described the underlying Southern District of New York opinion confirming the ...

The city of Portsmouth terminated a police officer in the wake of a bequest made to the officer by a 92-year-old woman he had met while on duty. The officer had assisted the woman in finding an attorney to draft a new will leaving the majority of her estate to him, which ...

New York statutes classify certain civil service positions as exempt where such positions are confidential in nature and require personal qualities that cannot practicably be tested by an examination. These positions are typically appointed positions, such ...

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently denied a motion to reconsider its prior confirmation of a “multihundred-million-dollar” arbitration award by a Chinese arbitration panel. In the underlying arbitration, the China ...

In litigation “bookended by two Supreme Court decisions on arbitration,” namely, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis and Morgan v. Sundance Inc., the Ninth Circuit recognized Morgan’s holding prohibiting courts from creating “arbitration-favoring ...

The plaintiff's original complaint relied on a certain purchase agreement (PA) that included an arbitration clause. While the appeal was pending, the lower court permitted the plaintiff to amend the complaint to no longer rely on the PA for its claims. As a ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court decision and compelled arbitration based on its determination that one of the litigants, Experian, was a party to the arbitration provision, despite the fact that Experian was not a party to the wider ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court’s order confirming an arbitration award under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980, noting in the process that judicial review of such awards is ...

Charles Schwab & Co. successfully petitioned the Southern District of New York for confirmation of a FINRA arbitration award against one of its account holders, fending off challenges predicated on Schwab’s alleged discovery abuses in the process.

The Evan ...

Nicole Zachman brought a putative class action against the Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union (HVCU) for breach of contract and violation of the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act, among other claims, based on HVCU’s alleged practice of collecting ...

The case involved a seller of a 91% interest in a Virginia-based government contractor that provides overseas staffing and logistics support to government agencies. The parties’ sale contract contained a choice-of-law provision that stated the agreement ...

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the confirmation of an arbitration award over protests from a pro se litigant that the award was procured by undue means as a result of opposing counsel “coaching” a witness via text during a remote deposition.

The ...

The Eastern District of Pennsylvania has transferred a lawsuit filed against Applied Underwriters Inc. and its subsidiaries to the District of Nebraska. The dispute involved a workers’ compensation insurance program issued by an Applied Underwriters ...

California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) authorizes “aggrieved employees” to sue their employer on behalf of themselves “and other current or former employees” to obtain civil penalties that previously could only have ...

The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the denial of attorneys’ fees pursuant to section 38.243, N.R.S. and in association with the confirmation of an arbitration award. The Nevada statute provides “on application of a prevailing party to a contested judicial ...

An arbitration provision providing that “all controversies which may arise between the parties” was sufficiently broad and clear to require disputes related to the arbitration panel’s jurisdiction to be settled by the arbitration panel itself. “The ...

Air-Con Inc. is a Puerto Rico corporation that specializes in the sale and distribution of air conditioners in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. A dispute arose between Air-Con and its supplier, Daikin Applied Latin America LLC. Daikin moved to compel arbitration ...

The Southern District of New York confirmed an international arbitration panel’s award in favor of a Haitian company (PRH) and against the Haitian Bureau de Monetisation des Programmes d’Aide au Developpement (BMPAD). PRH entered into a series of ...

In a dispute between Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood LLC and a labor union, Constellium argued that an arbitrator’s award against Constellium was contrary to a prior court decision involving the same parties and therefore violated the doctrine of res ...

In protracted litigation springing from the sale of “free” credit reports that “were not really free,” the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a party’s waiver of its right to arbitrate state law claims did not result in a waiver of its right to ...

The Northern District of New York confirmed this month an arbitration award made in June 2018 by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) in favor of two Chinese companies and against a U.S. tool manufacturer. The Chinese ...

A pro se litigant sought to vacate an adverse summary judgment in arbitration that rejected her wrongfully termination claim. At the outset of the arbitration proceeding, the parties agreed on the selection of the proposed arbitrator, even though his ...

The dispute surrounded the employee’s termination due to an inability to be physically present at the workplace. The employee filed suit in Rhode Island state court, alleging that the employer failed to provide reasonable accommodations for her known ...

In a dispute over whether an international insurance policy provided coverage for losses resulting from a fire that destroyed the insured property, the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico determined that the Convention on the Recognition and ...

In 2016, Colorado Health Insurance Cooperative Inc. was ordered into liquidation by a Colorado court. At the time, the federal government owed Colorado Health $24.5 million for reinsurance debts under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), while Colorado Health owed ...

The Department of Labor brought an enforcement action against Arizona Logistics Inc. for alleged violations of the FLSA’s minimum wage, overtime, record-keeping, and anti-retaliation requirements resulting from the alleged misclassification of ...

Shannon Zoller sued her former employer, GCA Advisors LLC, for violations of the Equal Pay Act, California's Fair Pay Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1871, among other alleged violations. GCA moved to compel arbitration pursuant to the arbitration agreements ...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the enforceability of an employment agreement’s waiver of appellate review of an arbitration award. The waiver purported to waive both judicial and appellate review of the arbitrator’s decision. The district ...

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri confirmed an arbitration award in favor of Clayco Inc. in a dispute with its subcontractor arising from a construction contract. The parties’ contract provided detailed dispute resolution ...

The representative of former stockholders who sold their shares in a leasing corporation pursuant to a stock purchase agreement had filed identical complaints in state court and before an arbitration tribunal alleging a breach of the stock purchase agreement ...

In an employment dispute, the District Court of Connecticut dissected an arbitration clause to determine whether its scope was “broad,” resulting in a presumption of arbitrability of collateral issues, or “narrow,” in which case collateral issues ...

The Ninth Circuit vacated the denial of a motion to compel arbitration and remanded for determination of whether a valid arbitration agreement exists in a recent lawsuit governed by Washington state law. According to the Ninth Circuit, the district court’s ...

In a case where both the plaintiffs and the defendant agreed the matter should be arbitrated, the Southern District of Ohio refused to compel arbitration and denied the plaintiffs' motion for the appointment of arbitrators. The parties' contract provided for ...

The dispute involved Telemicro's breach of a contract with Major League Baseball Properties for the rights to broadcast MLB games in the Dominican Republic. Telemicro failed to make payments under the contract, prompting MLB to terminate the contract and ...

Thomas Sanduski petitioned to vacate a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration award of $418,518 to Charles Schwab, claiming that one of the arbitrators was partial to Charles Schwab and that the panel was guilty of misconduct and potentially ...

A court granted an unopposed motion to confirm an arbitration award in favor of the Drywall Tapers and Pointers of Greater New York Local Union 1974. The award stemmed from CCC Custom Carpentry’s apparent failure to remit contributions required under a ...

Peter Wirs has filed a series of actions against the Republican National Committee since at least 2009. Not finding success in the courts, he apparently decided to arbitrate his claims against the RNC, with “Wirs himself serv[ing] as the arbitrator.” When ...

Precision Castparts Corp. purchased companies with manufacturing facilities in the United States and Germany for €800 million. After the sale closed, Precision discovered that the seller had "manipulated financial documents of the acquired companies to ...

Timothy Hidalgo sued the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States Inc. (AAU) on behalf of a purported class for damages emanating from a data breach suffered by the AAU. The court granted the AAU's motion to compel arbitration.

Hidalgo used the Safari web ...

Vimeo Inc. sought to compel arbitration of putative class claims brought by Bradley Acaley relating to the use of Magisto, a video creation app. Acaley claimed that the app's use of face-geometry scan technology violated the Illinois Biometric Information ...

All three defendants were non-signatories to the underlying contract containing the arbitration agreement they sought to enforce. They each contended that they were entitled to enforce the arbitration agreement, despite their non-signatory status ...

The District Court of Puerto Rico upheld a prior judgment ordering Integrand Assurance Co. to arbitrate its claims against its various reinsurers, rather than remand the case to the court overseeing Integrand's receivership, the Superior Court of the ...

The Northern District of Texas has confirmed an arbitration award for Wells Fargo against Energy Product Co. and Energy Transport and Logistic LLC. Neither Energy Product nor Energy Transport participated in the arbitration or filed a response to the motion to ...

Big Port Service DMCC and China Shipping Container Lines Co. Ltd. (CSCL) litigated in Singapore a dispute regarding a supply of marine fuel oil for a CSCL vessel. CSCL subsequently filed suit in the Southern District of New York seeking a permanent injunction ...

An arbitration award rendered pursuant to section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) was overturned upon a finding that the award was "grossly excessive" and based on an "evident material miscalculation." The award stemmed from a collective ...

The former employees of a waste management company sued their former employer for violations of various federal and state labor laws. The company sought to compel arbitration and dismiss the complaint, relying on an arbitration agreement into which the former ...

The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court decision vacating an arbitration award relating to a federal crop insurance policy issued through a standard reinsurance agreement with the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC). The district court had ruled that the ...