When Isaac Payne took a job at the Savannah College of Art and Design (“SCAD”), he signed an acknowledgement agreeing to comply with the school’s staff handbook, including its alternative dispute resolution policy. The arbitration policy provided, among other things, that the non-prevailing party in any arbitration would be required to pay the arbitrator’s fees,…
Category: Arbitration
Equitable Tolling May Apply to Deadline for Motion to Vacate Arbitration Award
NuVasive, a manufacturer of medical products, had an exclusive distribution agreement, including noncompetition provisions, with Absolute Medical, LLC. After Absolute Medical disclaimed that agreement and started using the same salespeople to work for NuVasive’s competitor, NuVasive sued. The district court ordered arbitration of one of NuVasive’s claims—for breach-of-contract damages—and stayed most of the other claims….
A New Rule for Vacatur of International Arbitration Awards
Overruling Industrial Risk Insurers v. M.A.N. Gutehoffnunshutte GmbH, 141 F.3d 1434 (11th Cir. 1998) and Inversiones y Procesadora Tropical INPROTSA, S.A. v. Del Monte International GmbH, 921 F.3d 1291 (11th Cir. 2019), the Eleventh Circuit has held that an international arbitration award falling under the New York Convention may be vacated by courts in the…
Full Court Will Consider Grounds for Vacatur of International Arbitration Awards
The court will rehear en banc Corporacion AIC, SA v. Hidroelectrica Santa Rita S.A., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27855 (11th Cir. Oct. 5, 2022), concerning the grounds for vacatur of an arbitration award falling under the New York Convention. As we reported here, a panel of the court affirmed a denial of a motion for…
Arbitration Agreement’s Delegation Clause Must Be Enforced Even If Arbitration of Underlying Claims Prohibited by Statute
In Attix v. Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, 35 F.4th 1284 (11th Cir. May 26, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration and enforced the parties’ agreement to delegate to the arbitrator questions of arbitrability, including whether arbitration itself was precluded by the Dodd-Frank Act. The decision not…
Panel Invites Full Court to Revisit Grounds on Which International Arbitration Awards Can Be Vacated
In Corporacion AIC, SA v. Hidroelectrica Santa Rita S.A., 34 F.4th 1290 (11th Cir. 2022), a panel of the Eleventh Circuit urged the full court to reconsider its holding in Inversiones y Procesadora Tropical INPROTSA, S.A. v. Del Monte International GmbH, 921 F.3d 1291 (11th Cir. 2019), and to add to the grounds on which…
Federal Arbitration Act, Not Georgia Arbitration Code, Applied to Review of Arbitration Award
In Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. OCELTIP Aviation 1 PTY Ltd, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 10382 (11th Cir. Apr. 18, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit rejected an argument that the parties’ contract provided for the Georgia Arbitration Code (“GAC”), rather than the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), to apply to proceedings to confirm or vacate an arbitration award….
Strike While the Arbitration Award Is Hot: Three-Month Window to File Motion to Vacate Does Not Prevent Earlier Confirmation
The Federal Arbitration Act provides for motions to confirm (9 U.S.C. § 9) or to vacate or modify (9 U.S.C. §§ 10, 11) an arbitration award, but the motions are not all subject to the same deadline. A motion to confirm may be filed within a year after the award is made, whereas the window…
Federal Presumption of Arbitrability Limited to Disputes That Are Immediate, Foreseeable Results of Contractual Performance
After concluding that the most natural reading of an arbitration agreement did not cover the dispute in Calderon v. Sixt Rent a Car, LLC, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 20854 (11th Cir. July 14, 2021), the Eleventh Circuit held more broadly that the Federal Arbitration Act’s strong presumption of arbitrability applies only if “the dispute in…
FCRA Class Action Foiled by Comcast Arbitration Agreement
A Comcast arbitration agreement by which a former subscriber to the cable service agreed to arbitrate “any claim or controversy related to Comcast” was enforced by the court in Hearn v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, 992 F.3d 1209 (11th Cir. 2021), overturning a contrary decision by the Northern District of Georgia. The arbitration agreement was…