It Is With A Heavy Heart That A Ninth Circuit Panel Tells Us It Can't Fix A Mess. "This award shows in stark terms the real risks that parties assume when they trade away their right to adjudicate their claims in court for the potential efficiencies of arbitration. When, as here, things go wrong, […]
And Judge Bea Dissents. In Setty v. Shrinivas Sugandhalaya LLP, No. 18-35573 (9th Cir. 7/7/21) (Nelson, Rawlinson; Bea, dsst.), the court holds that the district court did not abuse its discretion by rejecting defendant SS Mumbai's argument that plaintiff SS Bangalore should be equitably estopped from avoiding arbitration. Defendant SS Mumbai was a non-signatory […]
Can US Federal Courts Allow Discovery For Private International Arbitrations? As set forth in SCOTUSBlog, this is the issue before the Supreme Court in Servotronics, Inc. v. Rolls-Royce PLC: "Whether the discretion granted to district courts in 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a) to render assistance in gathering evidence for use in 'a foreign […]
The US Supreme Court Was In Agreement About This One. The Supreme Court has held unanimously, with Justice Sotomayor concurring, that the "New York Convention does not conflict with the enforcement of arbitration agreements by nonsignatories under domestic-law equitable estoppel doctrines." GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, […]
The Hague Service Convention Between The US And China Did Not Apply Because . . . The first sentence of an opinion is often an arrow pointing to where the court is headed. So it is in Rockefeller Technology Investments (Asia) VII v. Changzhou Sinotype Technology Co., Ltd., S249923 (Cal. S.Ct 4/2/20) (Corrigan, J.): […]
Case Is Remanded So District Court Can Assess Jurisdictional Issue. The plaintiff-appellant Mr. Castro took on a job as a deck hand on ship. His employment agreement contained a mandatory arbitration provision and it required arbitration to occur in and be subject to the procedural rules of American Samoa. After severely injuring himself, […]
Passage Of SB 766 Opens Up Opportunities For Foreign Attorneys To Participate In International Arbitration In California. An excellent article by Eric Z. Chang appearing in California Litigation –The Journal of the Litigation Section of the CLA, Vol. 31,No. 2 (2018), p. 27, explains how an ambiguity in the law as to whether foreign attorneys […]
This Case Is For Grammar Afficionados; Or, What A Difference A Comma Makes. Only and exclusive photo of the Vestris as it went down. Fred Hansen, photographer, active 1928. Library of Congress. Mr. Yang, a seaman, died when the fishing vessel he worked on sank because of inadequate repairs and […]
Ninth Circuit Joins Second And First Circuits. In Portland General Electric Company v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, et al., No 16-35628 (9th Cir. 7/10/17) an opinion authored by Senior District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, the 9th Circuit joins the 2nd and 1st Circuits to conclude that "incorporation of the rules of the ICC [International […]
It’s Not Exactly The Same As Skipping Mediation In A Home Sale Purchase In California . . . . California courts have established that the consequence of not requesting mediation before suing for breach of a California Association of Realtor’s residential purchase agreement is that the plaintiff will not recover attorney’s fees even if […]