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You Only Get One Shot at Vacatur: The Fourth Circuit Adopts the “Impermissible Collateral Attack” Rule | Center for Excellence in Higher Educ., Inc. v. Accreditation Alliance of Career Schools & Colleges, ___ F.4th ___, No. 25-1372, slip op. (4th Cir. Feb. 5, 2026)

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Introduction

The Fourth Circuit formally adopted a rule several circuits already apply: if an “independent” lawsuit is really an attempt to undo an arbitration outcome, it is an impermissible collateral attack on the award and will be dismissed. That decision reinforces the exclusivity and finality of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”)’s confirmation, vacatur, and modification regime.

Separately, the Court made a practical point concerning Section 10(a)(3) prejudicial, procedural misconduct: an arbitrator does not commit “misconduct” by refusing to hear evidence when the arbitration agreement itself limits what is considered the evidentiary record and bars adversarial discovery. The same may be true when, as was the case before the Court, the arbitrator’s standard of review is deferential, and the proffered evidence is not material to the narrow question before the arbitrator.

The Fourth Circuit’s Adoption of the Impermissible Collateral Attack Rule: What Transpired?

The Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE) ran schools accredited by the Accreditation Alliance of Career Schools and Colleges (the Alliance). After years of below-benchmark graduation and employment outcomes, CEHE’s system was placed on probation and repeatedly warned about losing accreditation. The Alliance withdrew accreditation.

CEHE appealed internally, then demanded binding arbitration as contemplated by the parties’ agreement. CEHE sought broad discovery and to introduce evidence outside of that deemed part of the internal appellate record, including information about how Alliance evaluated other schools for accreditation. The arbitration agreement limited arbitration to the record before the internal Appeals Panel and prohibited adversarial discovery. The arbitrator enforced those limits and made an award upholding the accreditation withdrawal.

The Alliance’s accreditation decisions were subject to deferential review only. That, in combination with the FAA, meant two tiers of deference were owed: The arbitrator had to review the Alliance’s decisions deferentially and, as is always the case under Section 10 of the FAA, a court reviewing the arbitrator’s award had to defer to the already deferential award.

CEHE filed in federal court: (i) a motion to vacate and, as part of the same filing, (ii) a complaint alleging due process violations and tortious interference. CEHE sought, in substance, to reverse the withdrawal of accreditation and recover damages flowing from it.

The district court denied vacatur and, as respects the complaint, granted judgment on the pleadings, treating the submission of those papers as an impermissible collateral attack on the award. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed in Center for Excellence in Higher Educ. v. Accreditation Alliance of Career Schs. & Colleges, __ F.4th ___, 25-1372 , slip op. at 2 (4th Cir. Feb 05, 2026)

Principal Issues Addressed

The Fourth Circuit’s decision focused on two issues. First, the scope of relief for arbitrator prejudicial procedural misconduct under Section 10(a)(3) in cases where the arbitration agreement limits what comprises the record, forecloses adversarial discovery, or the arbitrator’s standard of review is deferential. (Read more about Section 10(a)(3) here, here, and here.)

Second, when is a post-award lawsuit not a genuinely independent claim but an impermissible collateral attack on the award, that is, an end-run around FAA Sections 10–11?

Contractual Limits on Record Content, Evidence, and Discovery, or a Deferential Standard of Review Imposed on the Arbitrator, Can Foreclose FAA Section 10(a)(3) Prejudicial Procedural Misconduct Claims

CEHE’s motion to vacate asserted the arbitrator denied CEHE a fair opportunity to present “pertinent and material” evidence material evidence by refusing discovery and excluding comparative-accreditation evidence. Center for Excellence, slip op. at 9; 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(3).

The Fourth Circuit rejected that argument for two reasons. First, the excluded “other schools” material was not “pertinent and material” to the arbitrator’s task. The arbitration was not a free-ranging arbitration featuring de novo review of the Alliance’s decision making. The arbitrator was tasked with determining whether the record adequately supported the Alliance’s accreditation decision, and in making that determination the arbitrator determined that Fourth Circuit precedent required the arbitrator to defer to the Alliance’s decision. Center for Excellence, slip op. at 12-15 (citation omitted). So even assuming evidence about other schools’ accreditation experiences might have rhetorical force or evidentiary value in the context of a different dispute resolution framework, the Court concluded that, considering the deferential standard of review, evidence about other Alliance accreditation decisions was irrelevant. Center for Excellence, slip op. at 10-11, 14-15.

Second, the agreement itself foreclosed the arbitrator from considering the evidence the school argued the arbitrator had to hear or from permitting the adversarial discovery the school argued was required. Center for Excellence, slip op. at 11.  This is a key doctrinal point practitioners should note: Evidence cannot be “pertinent and material to the controversy” under Section 10(a)(3) if the arbitration agreement itself prohibits the arbitrator from considering that evidence. While the Court did not address this point, if the school wanted to challenge those limitations it should have attempted an FAA Section 2 pre-arbitration unconscionability challenge prior to the commencement of the arbitration. See 9 U.S.C. § 2; Doctor’s Assocs., Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681, 687 (1996) (under FAA Section 2, a party may challenge arbitration agreement on unconscionability grounds applicable to contracts generally). The author expresses no view on whether such a challenge might have succeeded.

The arbitration agreement expressly stated that the arbitrator could not consider evidence not in the Appeals Panel record and prohibited adversarial discovery. An arbitrator who enforces those terms is not “refusing to hear” evidence in the procedural misconduct sense; he or she is doing what the parties contracted for. That’s the arbitrator’s job.

This is a recurring theme in FAA jurisprudence: the FAA regulates egregious process breakdowns, but—apart from leaving the door open to a party seeking judicial reformation of an arbitration agreement under Section 2 in an appropriate case—it does not authorize a court to rewrite the parties’ arbitration agreement simply because one side is, after the fact, unhappy with the bargain it struck. See Aviall, Inc. v. Ryder System, Inc., 110 F.3d 892, 895-97 (2d Cir. 1997).

The Big Development: the Fourth Circuit Adopts the “Impermissible Collateral Attack” Rule

The more consequential arbitration-law holding was the Fourth Circuit’s adoption of the impermissible collateral attack rule.

The Premise: FAA §§ 10–11 Provide the Exclusive Route to Overturn or Undo an Award

The court treated it as common ground that a litigant seeking to vacate or modify an award must proceed under the FAA’s narrow vacatur/modification framework—principally §§ 10 and 11. FAA exclusivity and finality has a practical purpose: binding arbitration is designed to resolve the parties’ dispute expeditiously and conclusively.

The Court found adoption of the “impermissible collateral attack rule” necessary to preserve that presumed exclusivity and finality. Allowing disappointed parties to repackage vacatur theories as “independent” tort or constitutional claims would destroy finality, which could make arbitration a less attractive and more expensive alternative to court litigation.

How to Spot a Collateral Attack: Look at Wrongdoing, Harm, and Requested Relief

The Fourth Circuit adopted a functional test used by other circuits, focusing on:

  • The Alleged Wrongdoing. Is it the type of defect that would support vacatur under Section 10 (or modification under Section 11)?
  • The Harm. Does it flow from the award’s effect?
  • The Requested Relief. Is it, in essence, the relief vacatur would provide?

Applied to CEHE, each of the three supported application of the “impermissible collateral attack” rule:

  • The alleged wrongdoing was essentially “the decisionmaker refused to consider evidence”—classic § 10(a)(3) territory.
  • The harms (lost students, reputational damage, financial losses) flowed from the accreditation loss the arbitrator upheld and CEHE sought to overturn.
  • The requested relief—especially injunctive relief reversing the withdrawal—tracked what vacatur would accomplish.

The court also emphasized that a party cannot sanitize an impermissible collateral attack by tweaking remedies. A damages label does not save a claim when the theory of injury is an allegedly  defective arbitration process.

The Punchline: If it’s a Collateral Attack, the Whole Complaint is Tossed

Because the complaint was treated as a collateral attack, it was dismissed in toto, including tortious interference claims that at a cursory glance might appear “independent.”

The breadth of that remedy is significant. It signals that courts will not allow plaintiffs to proceed count-by-count where the thrust of the lawsuit is to overturn the arbitration outcome.

Doctrinal Implications of the Fourth Circuit’s Adoption of the Impermissible Collateral Attack Rule

Center for Excellence does more than announce a new label for a familiar concept. By adopting an “impermissible collateral attack” rule, the Fourth Circuit has supplied a doctrinal framework for defining when post-award litigation concerning claims allegedly independent from a Section 10 or 11 challenge is, in practical effect, an attempt to unwind the award that has already been or would be barred by Sections 9-11 of the FAA.  The decision’s implications extend beyond accreditation disputes and are likely to influence how parties plead, defend, and adjudicate post-award claims in the Fourth Circuit and perhaps elsewhere.

FAA Exclusivity, Finality, and the “Functional” Inquiry

The Court’s central move is to treat FAA Sections 10–11 as the exclusive doctrinal avenue for judicial relief that would set aside, modify, or otherwise negate an arbitral award. That premise is hardly novel, but Center for Excellence gives it operational content by insisting on substance over form. Courts are instructed to look past pleading labels and ask whether the alleged wrong, the asserted injury, and the requested relief are, in substance, a bid to obtain what vacatur or modification would provide (or would have provided had vacatur or modification been granted).

This substance over form approach is significant because it diminishes the viability of a common post-award strategy: coupling a narrow FAA vacatur motion with broader common-law or constitutional claims that seek to re-create, in a new procedural posture, the merits contest that the arbitration ended. Under Center for Excellence, it will be harder to argue that merely changing the cause of action (for example, to tortious interference or due process theories) changes the essential character of the relief sought where the litigation’s gravitational center remains the arbitral outcome.

Collateral Attack Doctrine as Distinct from Claim and Issue Preclusion

The impermissible collateral attack rule overlaps conceptually with res judicata and collateral estoppel, but it is not simply a repackaging of those doctrines. Preclusion asks whether a claim could have been or an issue was litigated and resolved in a prior adjudication. The impermissible collateral attack rule asks a different question: whether the new lawsuit is an improper vehicle for challenging the arbitral award at all, given the FAA’s exclusive remedial structure.

That distinction has practical doctrinal consequences. Preclusion analysis can be fact-intensive (identity of parties, privity, finality, opportunity to litigate, and so forth), and it sometimes requires careful attention to what the arbitral tribunal actually decided. The collateral attack rule can, in appropriate cases, be applied earlier, more categorically, and perhaps with greater ease, because it turns on the nature of the alleged wrong and the relief sought. Center for Excellence therefore provides defendants with an additional—and sometimes simpler—path to dismissal independent of conventional preclusion defenses.

Pleading-Stage Tool that Reinforces the FAA’s Narrow Review

The Fourth Circuit’s approach also matters procedurally: it confirms that a court may identify an impermissible collateral attack at the pleadings stage, without permitting the case to proceed into discovery and merits motion practice. That is consistent with the FAA, which favors speed and finality in award enforcement and sharply limits post-award judicial review. See 9 U.S.C. §§ 6, 9-11.

In that respect, the decision is likely to influence motion practice. Where a complaint is tethered to the award—because the harm is framed as the consequences of the award’s effects and the relief is framed to reverse, enjoin, or effectively nullify those effects—courts have a doctrinal basis to terminate the litigation quickly and early. Conversely, plaintiffs seeking to survive dismissal will need to plead with care, demonstrating that the asserted injury and requested remedy do not depend on re-litigating the arbitral dispute or undercutting the award’s finality.

The Substance of the Remedy Sought Will Often Be Decisive

Center for Excellence highlights that focusing on substance and practicality can drive effective arbitration-law (and other legal) doctrine. Injunctive or declaratory relief that would “reverse” the practical effects of an award is, predictably, the easiest target for a collateral attack defense. But the Court made clear that damages claims are not immune from scrutiny. Where the damages theory is that the arbitration process was defective and the plaintiff’s economic losses flow from the award’s operation, a damages label will not transform the lawsuit into an independent claim.

That focus on the practical effects of the remedies sought will likely shape how plaintiffs draft complaints and how defendants frame dismissal motions. If the requested relief would require the court to adjudicate—directly or indirectly—the propriety of the arbitral process or the correctness of the arbitral outcome, the collateral attack doctrine supplies a doctrinal basis for dismissal even where traditional preclusion doctrines might require more granular analysis.

Interaction with FAA Section 10(a)(3) and Contractually “Closed” Records

Finally, the decision’s Section 10(a)(3) discussion complements the collateral attack holding. The Court treated the arbitration agreement’s limits on discovery and the evidentiary record as materially shaping what can qualify as “pertinent and material evidence” for procedural misconduct purposes. Where parties contract for a closed record (or for review limited to an internal administrative record), an arbitrator’s enforcement of those limits will generally not supply a Section 10(a)(3) hook for vacatur. The same is true when the standard of review governing the arbitrator’s decision making is deferential, as it was here.

Taken together, these strands of the opinion underscore a consistent doctrinal theme: parties who bargain for procedural limits on arbitration—or arguably for deferential review by the arbitrator—should expect courts to enforce the bargain, both by (i) declining to expand Section 10(a)(3) into a vehicle for reengineering the agreed process and (ii) rejecting attempts to achieve the same end through post-award litigation framed as something other than an FAA vacatur or modification proceeding.

Conclusion

Center for Excellence is a clean Fourth Circuit adoption of a rule that arbitration practitioners often assume exists everywhere—but which has not been formally embraced by all other circuits. The rule strengthens award finality by closing a common loophole: a collateral attack on an award that is disguised as something else.

Contacting the Author

If you have any questions about this article, arbitration, arbitration-law, or arbitration-related litigation, then please contact Philip J. Loree Jr., at (516) 941-6094. PJL1@LoreeLawFirm.com.

Philip J. Loree Jr. is principal of the Loree Law Firm, a New York attorney who focuses his practice on arbitration and associated litigation. A former BigLaw partner, he has 35 years of experience representing a wide variety of corporate, other entity, and individual clients in matters arising under the Federal Arbitration Act, as well as in insurance- or reinsurance-related, and other, matters.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING NOTICE: Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Photo Acknowledgment

The photo featured in this post was licensed from Yay Images and is subject to copyright protection under applicable law.

When Arbitration-Fee Nonpayment Derails the Process: Tenth Circuit says the Default Lifts the Section 3 Stay, Allowing Litigation to Proceed | Myers v. Papa Texas, LLC, ___ F.4th ___, No. 25-2020, slip op. (10th Cir. Feb. 12, 2026)

February 18th, 2026 Arbitration Fees, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Default in Proceeding with Arbitration, FAA Chapter 1, FAA Section 3, Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Procedure, Federal Arbitration Act Section 3, Section 3 Default, Stay of Litigation, Stay of Litigation Pending Arbitration, Uncategorized, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Waiver of Arbitration No Comments »

Introduction: a Section 3 Default in Case Where Arbitration Proponent Failed to Pay Arbitration Fees 

Default Under FAA Section 3 in Nonpayment of Arbitration Fees CaseDefault in the FAA Section 3 context is not limited to litigation conduct that establishes waiver of arbitration. In Myers v. Papa Texas, LLC, ___ F.4th ___, No. 25-2020, slip op. (10th Cir. Feb. 12, 2026) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit made three key points about Section 3 default in a nonpayment of fees case:

  1. A party that fails to pay required arbitration fees and thereby causes the arbitration administrator (here, the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA”) to close the case risks being found “in default in proceeding with such arbitration” under FAA § 3, allowing the district court to lift an the stay of litigation and resume the litigation.
  2. In the Tenth Circuit, the “default” inquiry under § 3 is not the same thing as waiver-by-litigation (the usual “did you litigate too much before seeking arbitration?” question). A party can avoid waiver-by-litigation and still default in arbitration by not performing the steps needed to arbitrate, especially payment of arbitration fees.
  3. If you want arbitration, you must be prepared to fund it, comply with the forum’s rules, and build a record showing any inability to pay or good-faith efforts to make arrangements.

What Happened

Luke Myers brought an action against his employer, Papa Texas, LLC, in federal district court. Papa Texas obtained a stay pending arbitration under FAA § 3, and the case moved toward arbitration administered by the AAA.

But arbitration is not free, particularly for business entity defendants. It runs on process—and fees, which (all too often) can be quite substantial.

The AAA demanded payment. Papa Texas did not tender it. After repeated notices and extensions, AAA closed the arbitration for nonpayment—what would one expect? Myers understandably wanted to proceed to litigation and so he asked the Court to lift the stay. Why? Because, said Myers, Papa Texas had “default[ed] in proceeding with arbitration” within the meaning of Section 3.

The district court agreed and lifted the stay. Papa Texas appealed and the Tenth Circuit affirmed.

What Arbitration-Law Issues did the Tenth Circuit Principally Address?

Myers resolved two closely-related and important FAA issues:

  1. What “default in proceeding with such arbitration” means under FAA § 3 when arbitration is derailed by nonpayment; and
  2. Whether and to what extent that § 3 “default” inquiry differs from waiver-by-litigation-conduct, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court’s instruction that courts must avoid arbitration-specific procedural rules? See Morgan v. Sundance, 596 U.S. 411, 414, 419 (2022).

Discussion

 

FAA § 3: “Default in Proceeding with such Arbitration” is a Real, Independent Off-Ramp for Arbitration Opponents

Most FAA practitioners instinctively think about waiver when a party engages in litigation conduct that is materially inconsistent with their agreement to arbitrate. But FAA § 3 contains specific limiting language that contemplates waiver not only by litigation conduct but other kinds of “default:” a court “shall…stay the trial…until such arbitration has been had in accordance with the terms of the agreement, providing the applicant for the stay is not in default in proceeding with such arbitration.” 9 U.S.C. § 3.

That last clause is not window dressing or surplusage. The Tenth Circuit treated it as an independent basis to terminate a previously ordered stay and to allow the litigation to proceed. (For more on Section 3 default, see here , here, and here.)

Default is not Limited to “Waiver by Litigation”

Papa Texas tried to reframe the § 3 default question as if it were the familiar waiver framework: multi-factor tests, litigation conduct, and (prior to Morgan) prejudice. But the Tenth Circuit rejected this category error. Default in arbitration is about whether the party who asked the court to halt litigation and send the dispute to arbitration proceeded with arbitration in a manner consistent with the agreement and the forum’s requirements.

Put differently, a party can “win” the waiver-by-litigation fight but still “lose” under § 3 if it does not move the arbitration forward as required by the agreement and applicable arbitration rules.

Nonpayment that Causes the Administrator to Close the File is Compelling Evidence of Default

The panel relied heavily on practical reality: the AAA closed the case because Papa Texas didn’t pay—despite repeated warnings.

The employer tried to blunt that with alternative glosses (including arguments drawn from other circuits’ approaches and attempts to import broader “totality of the circumstances” standards). But the court viewed the facts as straightforward:

  1. The arbitration forum demanded payment;
  2. The payment obligation was clearly communicated;
  3. The AAA granted extensions;
  4. Nonpayment persisted; and
  5. The forum closed the case.

That sequence supported the district court’s conclusion that the party seeking arbitration had defaulted in proceeding with arbitration.

Ability to Pay can Matter—But You Must Prove it

 A notable aspect of the Tenth Circuit’s analysis is what it emphasized as missing: evidence that Papa Texas could not afford the fees or tried to make alternative arrangements.

That matters for two reasons.

First, courts are understandably reluctant to let a party weaponize arbitration costs—especially when the party invoked arbitration to stop litigation—and then refuse to pay, leaving the opposing party with nowhere to go. That’s the kind of “heads, I win, tails you lose” tactic that waiver or default doctrine abhors. Cf. Cabinetree of Wisconsin, Inc. v. Kraftmaid Cabinetry, Inc., 50 F.3d 388, 391 (7th Cir. 1995) (party opposing waiver “wanted to play heads I win, tails you lose”).

Second, a genuine inability to pay, documented contemporaneously, could change the equities and sometimes the analysis. But the Tenth Circuit found no record support for that kind of inability here.

The Court Resisted “Arbitration-Specific” Procedural Requirements Without Weakening § 3’s Default Clause

Papa Texas attempted to draw energy from the Supreme Court’s insistence that courts not craft arbitration-specific procedural rules. The panel did not disagree with that principle. Instead, it treated § 3’s default clause as plain statutory text: if you’re the one who asked for the stay, you must not be in default while arbitration is pending.

That framing is doctrinally important. It positions § 3 default as a text-based limit on the stay remedy—not a court-made, arbitration-hostile overlay.

Seen through that lens, Section 3 is not a special judge-made  procedural rule favoring arbitration agreements over other contracts. If anything, it is an FAA procedural rule that neither favors nor disfavors arbitration and simply prescribes the circumstances under which a stay is either unavailable in the first place or subject to early termination.

The Default Argument was not Waived

Papa Texas also tried a different tack: even if nonpayment could support § 3 default, Myers supposedly waived the default argument by not emphasizing it when Papa Texas first sought the stay. According to Papa Texas, Myers waived the default argument by intentionally opting not to make at the first available opportunity.

The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s rejection of that contention, finding that the district court did not abuse its discretion. The Court said that the district court “was well within its discretion to conclude that nothing about Myer’s counsel’s explanation [for having earlier argued waiver rather than default], or Myer’s behavior before raising the default argument[]” evidenced an intentional relinquishment of the default argument. Slip op. at 18.

Practice Considerations for Arbitration Proponents and Arbitration Opponents

 

Arbitration Proponents

If you prefer to arbitrate, budget for it and document any inability to pay.

  1. Assume the court will expect the party who demanded arbitration to pay its share of arbitration fees promptly.
  2. If you cannot, create a record: declare the inability, propose structured payment, request fee relief if the rules permit it, and document pertinent communications.
  3. Do not let the administrator close the case and then argue later that you still want arbitration.

Arbitration Opponents

If the other side doesn’t pay, move fast. If your opponent is stalling arbitration by nonpayment:

  1. Request administrator enforcement (warnings, deadlines, and closure).
  2. Return to court and seek an order lifting the stay under FAA § 3 once default is clear.
  3. Preserve the record: notices, invoices, extensions, closure and other communications.

Conclusion

Myers is a clean, practitioner-facing reminder that arbitration is not self-executing. The FAA favors arbitration, but it does not require courts to keep cases on pause while the party who demanded arbitration refuses to do what the arbitration agreement requires.

Contacting the Author

If you have any questions about this article, arbitration, arbitration-law, or arbitration-related litigation, then please contact Philip J. Loree Jr., at (516) 941-6094. PJL1@LoreeLawFirm.com.

Philip J. Loree Jr. is principal of the Loree Law Firm, a New York attorney who focuses his practice on arbitration and associated litigation. A former BigLaw partner, he has 35 years of experience representing a wide variety of corporate, other entity, and individual clients in matters arising under the Federal Arbitration Act, as well as in insurance- or reinsurance-related, and other, matters.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING NOTICE: Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Photo Acknowledgment

The photo featured in this post was licensed from Yay Images and is subject to copyright protection under applicable law.

 

The EFAA—Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act: A Practical Overview

January 5th, 2026 Anti-Arbitration Statutes, Applicability of the FAA, Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreement Invalid, Arbitration Agreement Unenforceable, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Businessperson's FAQ Guide to the Federal Arbitration Act, Delegation Agreements, Delegation Provision, Drafting Arbitration Agreements, Employment Arbitration, FAA Chapter 1, FAA Chapter 2, FAA Chapter 4, FAA Section 1, FAA Section 2, FAA Section 401, FAA Section 402, Limitations on Arbitrability, Post-Dispute Arbitration Agreements, Practice and Procedure, Predispute Arbitration Agreements, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Disputes, Uncategorized, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York No Comments »

EFAAIntroduction

The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (the “EFAA”) is one of the most significant statutory changes to federal arbitration law in decades. Codified as Chapter 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. §§ 401–402, the EFAA limits the enforceability of pre-dispute arbitration agreements in cases involving sexual assault or sexual harassment.

Narrow in subject matter but broad in consequence, it affects domestic and international arbitration agreements, overrides delegation clauses, alters who decides arbitrability, and raises difficult questions about timing, scope, and case management. Federal courts—including circuit courts of appeals—have already begun to grapple with these issues, and more appellate guidance will likely be forthcoming.

This post provides a high-level overview of (1) what the EFAA says, (2) how it works in practice, and (3) the key issues courts have addressed so far, without extensive case-by-case discussion and analysis.

What the EFAA Says

 

EFAA Covered Agreements and Covered Disputes

The EFAA applies to two types of contractual provisions:

  1. A “Predispute arbitration agreement,” which is an “agreement to arbitrate a dispute that had  not yet arisen when the agreement was made,” 9 U.S.C. § 401(1); and
  2. A “Predispute joint-action waiver,” which is an “agreement, whether or not part of a predispute arbitration agreement, that would prohibit, or waive the right of, one of the parties to the agreement to participate in a joint, class, or collective action in a judicial, arbitral, administrative, or other forum, concerning a dispute that has not yet arisen at the time of the making of the agreement[,]” id. § 401(2).

The statute applies only if the dispute qualifies as either a “sexual assault dispute,” which is defined by reference to 18 U.S.C. § 2246 or similar state or tribal law, id. § 401(3); or a “sexual harassment dispute,” which is defined broadly as a dispute “relating to conduct alleged to constitute sexual harassment under applicable Federal, Tribal, or State law,” id. § 401(4).

The definitions of sexual harassment and assault  are intentionally expansive and incorporate the relevant substantive law governing the claim.

EFAA Operative Rule

Section 402(a) is the statute’s principal substantive command: Continue Reading »

New York’s Highest Court Rules that Arbitrator’s Statutory Treble Damages Award against Town Should have been Vacated

April 7th, 2025 Appellate Jurisdiction, Appellate Practice, Application to Confirm, Application to Vacate, Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Authority of Arbitrators, Award Vacated, Challenging Arbitration Awards, CPLR Article 75, Enforcing Arbitration Agreements, New York Appellate Division, New York Court of Appeals, New York State Courts, Petition to Vacate Award, Policy, Public Policy, Punitive Damages, Questions of Arbitrability, Remedies, Sovereign Immunity, Substantive Arbitrability, Treble Damages, Uncategorized, Vacate, Vacate Award | Arbitrability, Vacate Award | Exceeding Powers, Vacate Award | Public Policy Comments Off on New York’s Highest Court Rules that Arbitrator’s Statutory Treble Damages Award against Town Should have been Vacated

Introduction

Treble Damages | Punitive Damages | Public Policy Under New York law, can an arbitrator lawfully award statutory treble damages against the State or its political subdivisions?

New York prohibits punitive damage awards in suits against the State and its political subdivisions, including of course, towns. See Clark-Fitzpatrick, Inc. v Long Is. R.R. Co., 70 N.Y.2d 382, 386 (1987). Public funds are available only to compensate for damages suffered because the key “justifications for punitive damages—punishment and deterrence—are hardly advanced when applied to a governmental unit.” Sharapata v Town of Islip, 56 N.Y.2d 332, 338 (1982).

This prohibition on punitive damage awards is also based on the precept that the sovereign’s liability extends no farther than its waiver of immunity. As the New York Court of Appeals—New York’s highest Court—said in Sharapata, “we hold today that the waiver of sovereign immunity effected by section 8 of the Court of Claims Act does not permit punitive damages to be assessed against the State or its political subdivisions.” 56 N.Y.2d at 334.

But assuming treble damages are punitive in nature, can an arbitrator’s award imposing punitive damages be vacated because it violates New York public policy? Recently before the Court, in Matter of Rosbaugh v. Town of Lodi, 2025 NY Slip Op 01406 at *1 (N.Y. Mar. 13, 2025), was the question whether an arbitrator’s treble damages award against the Town of Lodi (the “Town”), made under New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (“RPAPL”) § 861, was punitive in nature and thus contrary to New York public policy. The Court said the answer is yes and held the award must be vacated.

One might expect that Rosbaugh would have discussed briefly New York arbitration law authorizing vacatur of awards that violate public policy but it did not. The focus of the decision was instead on whether the Court could, without violating New York public policy, impose on and enforce against the Town any  judgment imposing an RPAPL 861 treble damage remedy, irrespective of whether the judgment resulted or would result from: (a) a plenary, judicial trial on the merits; or (b) a summary proceeding to enter judgment on an arbitration award imposing that remedy. Because the prohibition applies to any suit against the state or its subdivisions, whether on the merits or to confirm an arbitration award, it was arbitration neutral and it did not necessarily require a meaningful discussion of arbitration law to hold that the award had to be vacated.

But perhaps the Court downplayed the arbitration law aspects of the decision because it thought doing otherwise might inadvertently encourage more public-policy challenges to the confirmation of arbitration awards than the law warrants. The line between what may be an egregious mistake of law—which is ordinarily not subject to New York Civ. Prac. L. & R. (“CPLR”) Article 75 review—and a violation of an important New York public policy—which can be a basis for vacatur of an award, see Associated Teachers of Huntington, Inc. v. Bd. of Educ., 33 N.Y.2d 229, 235-36 (1973)— can sometimes be blurry. The Court may have wanted to downplay arbitration law to avoid encouraging award challengers from unnecessarily, and erroneously,  seeking vacatur of awards based on unreviewable legal errors which, while serious, do not amount to violations of “so strong a public policy as to require vacating an award. . . .” 33 N.Y.2d at 231-32.

Also left undiscussed was how New York arbitration law provided an independent, alternative ground on which the courts might have vacated the award. Under New York arbitration law—but not the Federal Arbitration Act—arbitrators to not have the power, and cannot be empowered by agreement, to award punitive damages. See Garrity v. Lyle Stuart, Inc., 40 N.Y.2d 354, 357, 359-60 (1976); see also Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc., 514 U.S. 52, 62-64 (1995) (discussing difference between New York law and the FAA concerning arbitrability of punitive damages).

In Rosbaugh, the party who challenged the treble damage award was a municipality, which had a strong, sovereign-immunity-based public policy argument against the assessment of punitive damages.  But had the Town been a private person, then it would, it seems to the author, have had at least a  basis to argue that for the reasons explained by the Court in Rosbaugh, the treble-damage award had to be vacated under Garrity because of its punitive nature.

Background and Procedural History

Plaintiffs were landowners who owned land abutting one side of a dirt road in upstate New York. They had trees on their property, some of which apparently overhung the road, which was owned and maintained by the Town. The Town claimed that the trees were interfering with the right-of-way.

Presumably concluding that the trees were within the right-of-way, the Town proceeded to hire a tree service company to remove or trim them The company trimmed or cut down 55 trees that were on the plaintiff’s property.  Plaintiff sued the Town and the company seeking, among other remedies, treble damages under RPAPL 861(1).

Ultimately the parties agreed to submit their dispute to arbitration.  The arbitrator found for the plaintiffs, awarding three-times the “‘stumpage value’ of the damaged or destroyed trees.” 2025 NY Slip Op 01406 at *1 (quotations in original). The trial court upheld the award and a divided panel of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, affirmed.

New York’s highest court said “[t]he sole issue on appeal is whether treble damages under RPAPL 861 are punitive in nature , making them unavailable in a suit against a municipality.” 2025 NY Slip Op 01406 at *1. It concluded that they were punitive and that the award had to be vacated. See 2025 NY Slip Op 01406 at *3.

Whether Statutory Treble Damages are Punitive Depends on the Intent of the Legislature

As a general rule, treble damages are considered to be punitive but the Continue Reading »

Some Things to Consider Seriously Before You Agree to Arbitrate: An Arbitration Award may Direct You to Pay Your Adversary’s Attorney’s Fees

March 7th, 2025 Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration as a Matter of Consent, Arbitration Fees, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Arbitration Provider Rules, Arbitration Providers, Arbitration Risks, Attorney Fee Shifting, Attorney Fees and Sanctions, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, Bad Faith, Charles Bennett, Drafting Arbitration Agreements, Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, Outcome Risk, Practice and Procedure, Richard D. Faulkner, Small and Medium-Sized Business Arbitration Risk, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration, Uncategorized Comments Off on Some Things to Consider Seriously Before You Agree to Arbitrate: An Arbitration Award may Direct You to Pay Your Adversary’s Attorney’s Fees

Attorney's Fees in ArbitrationThose who agree to arbitration expose themselves to potential awards of attorney’s fees in cases where courts would likely not award fees.

If you’re a small business or an individual there’s a good chance you’re not fully familiar with certain of the risks associated with arbitration. Clients frequently consult with me when they find themselves saddled with unfavorable awards, and some of these persons are ones who, through no fault of their own, did not appreciate the risks involved and might  consequently have missed opportunities to better manage them. In many instances these persons were represented by attorneys who understood that subject matter of the arbitrated disputes, and who were skilled courtroom litigators, but who were not necessarily as well-versed in arbitration-law as are arbitration and arbitration-law practitioners.

This is more than simply an anecdotal observation. My good friends, colleagues, and sometimes co-counsel, Richard D. Faulkner and Charles (“Chuck”) Bennett, who also practice in this field, tell me they share this view and that their experiences are aligned with my own. (Here is a post concerning a Federalist-Society-sponsored webinar Rick, Chuck, and I participated in last year.) Other arbitration attorneys with whom I have spoken also agree.

Readers armed with some practical knowledge may be better able to avoid, mitigate or otherwise manage arbitration risks. It is in that spirit that we discuss a risk that tends to be more severe in arbitration than it is in court litigation:  your exposure to an award of attorney’s fees. As always, nothing we say here is or should be construed as legal advice. If you require legal advice you should engage and consult with an attorney.

Exposure to Liability for Your Adversary’s Legal Fees

A commonly overlooked risk associated with agreeing to arbitrate is that, if you lose, you might be on the wrong end of an award that requires you to reimburse your adversary for some or all of the fees it incurred in the arbitration. To be sure, there is a risk that in court litigation, the court may assess attorney’s fees against a losing party, but as we’ll see, the risk is generally higher in arbitration than it is in court litigation. Worse yet, in arbitration the ability to challenge meaningfully  such an award (or any other award) in court is extremely circumscribed under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). The same is generally so where state arbitration law applies.

No one likes paying attorney fees but they are a necessary incident of dispute resolution, especially resolution of high-dollar disputes. But imagine not only having to pay your own attorney’s fees, but also those of your adversary, an adversary who, in effect, is reimbursed for the fees it incurred in making your life miserable. Continue Reading »

Attorney Fees: Seventh Circuit to Consider Whether Exceeding Powers Challenge to Arbitrators’ Attorney’s Fees Award Warrants FRAP 38 Sanctions

June 19th, 2024 Appellate Practice, Application to Vacate, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Attorney Fee Shifting, Attorney Fees and Sanctions, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, Bad Faith, Challenging Arbitration Awards, Confirmation of Awards, Exceeding Powers, FAA Chapter 1, FAA Section 10, FAA Section 11, FAA Section 9, Federal Arbitration Act Section 10, Federal Arbitration Act Section 11, Federal Arbitration Act Section 9, Insurance Contracts, Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, Petition or Application to Confirm Award, Petition to Vacate Award, Post-Award Federal Arbitration Act Litigation, Practice and Procedure, Retrospectively-Rated Premium Contracts, Section 10, Section 11, Section 9, Uncategorized, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Vacate, Vacate Award | 10(a)(4), Vacate Award | Attorney Fees, Vacate Award | Attorney's Fees, Vacatur 1 Comment »

Introduction

Attorney's Fees | Contract InterpretationMost challenges to arbitration awards—including attorney fees awards— fail because the standards of review are so demanding. The bar is exceedingly high by design. Otherwise—the reasoning goes—courts would “open[] the door to the full-bore legal and evidentiary appeals that can rende[r] informal arbitration merely a prelude to a more cumbersome and time-consuming judicial review process and bring arbitration theory to grief in post-arbitration process.” Hall St. Assocs., L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc., 552 U.S. 576, 588 (2008) (citations and quotations omitted; some parenthetical material in original).

But the narrow margin for success is not a free pass for challengers to advance arguments that do not, in a court’s view, have a legitimate, good faith basis in the facts and the law, or in a reasonable argument for reversal or modification of the law.

A recent case in point is Circuit Judge Easterbrook’s decision in American Zurich Ins. Co. v. Sun Holdings, Inc., No. 23-3134, slip op. at 1 (7th Cir. June 3, 2024) (Easterbrook, J.). The award challenger claimed the arbitrators exceeded their power by imposing as a sanction an award of $175,000.00 in attorney fees because the contract allegedly barred such an attorney fees award. The problem was that the arbitrators at least arguably interpreted the language in question and concluded that it did not bar the award of attorney fees in question. Moreover,  the attorney fees  award comported with New York law and the American Arbitration Association Commercial Rules, both of which the parties made part of their agreement.

The Seventh Circuit has signaled that it believes there was no good faith basis for the challenge and that the challenger has offered none, apart from its insistence that its interpretation was the only one even barely plausible. The challenger appears to have further undermined its litigation position by engaging in what the Seventh Circuit believes was recalcitrant behavior in the arbitration proceedings, and, according to the Court, not acknowledging the existence of controlling Seventh Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court authority controverting its position. The challenger compounded that by asserting—contrary to FAA Sections 10 and 11— additional award challenges that the Court concluded were simply attempts to second guess various determinations made by the arbitrators.

That this strategy backfired should come as no surprise. It resulted in the Court issuing an order to show cause providing the challenger 14 days “to show cause why sanctions, including but not limited to an award of attorneys’ fees, should not be imposed for this frivolous appeal.” Zurich, slip op. at 5 (citing Fed. R. App. P. 38). At the time of this writing no decision has been made by the Court concerning whether it will, in fact, impose sanctions.

Background: The Award of Attorney Fees

Petitioner Sun Holdings, Inc. (“Sun” or the “Award Challenger”) is a Texas- Continue Reading »

SCOTUS Decides Spizzirri, Saying that FAA Section 3 Stays of Litigation Pending Arbitration are Mandatory if Requested

May 21st, 2024 Appellate Jurisdiction, Appellate Practice, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, FAA Chapter 1, FAA Section 16, FAA Section 3, FAA Section 4, Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Procedure, Federal Arbitration Act Section 3, Federal Arbitration Act Section 4, Federal Courts, Federal Question, Federal Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Look Through, Post-Award Federal Arbitration Act Litigation, Practice and Procedure, Pre-Award Federal Arbitration Act Litigation, Section 16, Section 3 Stay of Litigation, Section 4, Stay of Litigation, Stay of Litigation Pending Arbitration, Stay Pending Appeal, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Textualism, Uncategorized, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, United States Supreme Court Comments Off on SCOTUS Decides Spizzirri, Saying that FAA Section 3 Stays of Litigation Pending Arbitration are Mandatory if Requested

Section 3 Stay of LitigationOn May 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) in Smith v. Spizzirri, 601 U.S. ___, No 22-1218, slip op. (U.S. May 16, 2024), decided 9-0 that Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”) does not “permit[] a court to dismiss the case instead of issuing a stay when the dispute is subject to arbitration and a party requests a stay pending arbitration.” 601 U.S. at ___; slip op. at 1.

In an opinion written by Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Court concluded that the “text, structure, and purpose” of Section 3 and the FAA all “point to the same conclusion: When a federal court finds that a dispute is subject to arbitration, and a party has requested a stay of the court proceeding pending arbitration , the court does not have discretion to dismiss the suit on the basis that all the claims are subject to arbitration.” 601 U.S. at ___, slip op. at 3. The Court therefore held that if a lawsuit “involves an arbitrable dispute, and a party requests a Section 3 stay, the Court must stay the litigation. 601 U.S. at ___; slip op. at 6.

The Court’s opinion resolves a long-standing and deepening split in the circuits, which the Court left open in Green Tree Financial Corp.-Ala. v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79, 87 n.2 (2000), and Lamps Plus v. Varela, 587 U.S. 176, 181 n.1 (2019). That split in the circuits is discussed in note 1 of the Court’s opinion. 601 U.S. at ___ n.1, slip op. at 2-3 n.1 (citing cases).

Background

The underlying merits litigation that resulted in an order granting a motion to compel arbitration—but a dismissal despite the request for a Section 3 stay— was a state court action between current and former drivers for a delivery service and the operators of that service. Claims were made under state and federal employment laws based on alleged misclassification of the drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. Claimants sought damages for sick leave and overtime wages.

Defendants removed the case to federal district court in Arizona and moved to compel arbitration and dismiss the action. Claimants conceded arbitrability but argued that the action should be stayed under Section 3.

Ninth circuit precedent granted district courts considering an application to stay litigation under Section 3 the discretion to either stay or dismiss the action. Relying on that precedent, the district court dismissed the suit, reasoning that all claims in the litigation had been ordered to arbitration.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed, but two judges concurred, suggesting that this Ninth Circuit precedent was wrong and that SCOTUS should resolve the split in the circuits concerning whether a requested Section 3 stay was mandatory when claims in the litigation are subject to arbitration and a stay is requested.

SCOTUS granted certiorari, reversed the Ninth Circuit’s decision, and resolved the split. Continue Reading »

Section 9 | Confirming Awards Part III | Post-Award Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Businessperson’s Federal Arbitration Act FAQ Guide

June 22nd, 2020 Arbitration and Mediation FAQs, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Awards, Businessperson's FAQ Guide to the Federal Arbitration Act, Confirmation of Awards, FAA Chapter 1, Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Procedure, Federal Arbitration Act Section 9, Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts: Arbitration, Petition or Application to Confirm Award, Section 9, Uncategorized 4 Comments »
Section 9 Confirm Award

In the last two segments of the Businessperson’s Federal Arbitration Act FAQ Guide, we discussed the substantive and procedural requirements for confirming under Section 9 Chapter One Domestic Awards, that is, domestic awards that fall under Chapter One of the Federal Arbitration Act, but not under Chapter Two, which implements the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. (See here and here.)  Now we address additional, FAQs concerning the confirmation under Section 9 of Chapter One Domestic Awards.

Does an Application to Confirm under Section 9 a Chapter One Domestic Award Require One to File a Full-Blown Law Suit to Confirm an Award?

Fortunately, the answer is no. Like all other applications for relief under the FAA, an application to confirm an award under Section 9 is a summary or expedited proceeding, not a regular lawsuit.  Rule 81(a)(6)(B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that the Federal Rules “to the extent applicable, govern proceedings under the following laws, except as these laws provide for other procedures. . . (B) 9 U.S.C., relating to arbitration.  .  .  .” Fed. R. Civ. P. 81(a)(6)(B).

Section 6 of the FAA “provide[s] for.  .  . procedures” other than those applicable to ordinary civil actions because it requires applications for relief under the FAA to be made and heard as motions:

Any application to the court hereunder shall be made and heard in the manner provided by law for the making and hearing of motions, except as otherwise .  .  .  expressly provided [in the FAA].

9 U.S.C. § 6.

A Section 9 action to confirm an award is, of course, “[a]n application to the court” under the FAA, and thus, unless the FAA otherwise provides, must be “made and heard in the manner provided by law for the making and hearing of motions.  .  .  .”

Confirming Arbitration Awards under Section 9: What Papers does a Party File to Apply for Confirmation of an Award?

Continue Reading »

Manifest Disregard of the Law | Manifest Disregard of the Agreement | Second Circuit Remands Award to Arbitrator for Do-Over

October 25th, 2019 Authority of Arbitrators, Award Vacated, Awards, Challenging Arbitration Awards, Contract Interpretation, Enforcing Arbitration Agreements, Exceeding Powers, FAA Chapter 1, Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Procedure, Federal Arbitration Act Section 10, Grounds for Vacatur, Manifest Disregard of the Agreement, Manifest Disregard of the Law, Uncategorized, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Vacate Award | 10(a)(4), Vacate Award | Manifest Disregard of the Law, Vacatur Comments Off on Manifest Disregard of the Law | Manifest Disregard of the Agreement | Second Circuit Remands Award to Arbitrator for Do-Over
Second Chance to Make Award not in Manifest Disregard of Law or Agreement

Arbitrators are human and occasionally they make awards that cannot be squared with logic and law, and courts may, in appropriate circumstances, vacate those awards as being in manifest the agreement, or in some circuits, in manifest disregard of the law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit considered such an award in Weiss v. Sallie Mae, Inc., ___ F.3d ___, No. 18-2362, slip op. (Sept. 12, 2019), and solved the problem in a way that imposed minimal costs and delay on the parties and, at the same time, gave effect to the parties’ reasonable contractual expectations, including that the arbitrator would make an award with a colorable basis in the law or the parties’ agreement, not one in manifest disregard of the law or the agreement. It is therefore a good example of a case that promotes arbitration as an alternative to litigation.

Background

W is a student-loan borrower who in 2011 defaulted on a loan issued by S (N is the successor of S, but we shall refer to both as “S”). W gave S her phone number (“Phone Number 1”) when she obtained the loan and consented to S contacting her via an automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”). S made ATDS calls to her using Phone Number 1 prior to her default on the loan in 2011.

Also prior to her 2011 default W obtained a second telephone number (“Phone Number 2”) but did not give S consent to contact her on that number via an ATDS.

After W’s 2011 default, S contacted W seven or eight times a day at Phone Number 2 via an ATDS, attempting to collect the debt. S made 774 ATDS calls to Phone Number 2 during the period September 16, 2011 through July 1, 2013.

The Arbitration

A dispute arose between W and S about whether S’s ATDS calls had violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and W commenced an action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. The action was stayed after the parties stipulated to arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement in a student-loan promissory note.

The Award: Was it in Manifest Disregard of the Law or the Agreement?

Final Award 2 - yay-15399450

Following a hearing an arbitrator made an award granting W $108,000 in statutory damages under the TCPA. But the award held that W was a class member in a class action that S had settled. The class-action settlement (the “Arthur Settlement”) “included as a class member, ‘any person who received ATDS calls from [S] between October 27, 2005 and September 14, 2010.’” Slip op. at 5 (citation omitted).

W did not contend that the calls S made to Phone Number 1 violated the TCPA (W had consented to those calls), and W contended that, accordingly, she was not bound by the settlement, even though she had received ATDS on Phone Number 1 during the specified period. The arbitrator, however, found that argument “‘unpersuasive,’” and “ruled that Weiss was a class member and that ‘the proof was conclusive that [S] provided [W] with the required notice of the settlement and of her rights and obligations under the terms of the settlement.’” Slip op. at 5-6 (citation omitted).

The Arthur Settlement “notice offered class members the opportunity to file a ‘consent Revocation’ document by September 15, 2012; absent such a filing, ‘the ATDS calls would not stop and the borrower’s prior consent to give them [sic] would be deemed to have been given.’” Slip op. at 6 (citation omitted; bracketed text in original).  

While W contended that she was not aware of the Arthur Settlement, S testified that notice was successfully emailed to W.

The agreement implementing the Arthur Settlement featured a general release, “under which class members were ‘deemed to have fully released and forever discharged [S]’. . . from any and all claims and causes of action, inter alia, ‘that arise out of or are related in any way to the use of an [ATDS]. . . used by any of the Released Parties in connection with efforts to contact or attempt to contact Settlement Class Members including, but not limited to, claims under or for violations of the [TCPA].’” Slip op. at 6 (citations omitted; some bracketed text in original).

Even though the general release, to which the arbitrator determined W was bound, deemed W to have “waived ‘any and all’ TCPA claims effective the date of final judgment in the Arthur Settlement action[,]” the arbitrator’s award did not acknowledge the existence of that release. Slip op. at 6-7. “Instead,” said the Court, “the arbitrator interpreted [W]’s failure to submit a consent revocation pursuant to the Arthur class notice as precluding recovery for any calls placed to [Phone Number 2] after the September 15, 2012 deadline but also as permitting recovery for ATDS calls placed to [Phone Number 2] between September 6, 2011, and September 16, 2012.” Slip op. at 7.

The arbitrator awarded TCPA statutory damages in the amount of $108,500 ($500 per call for 217 calls during the applicable period). W moved to confirm the award and S cross-moved to vacate it.

The district court vacated the award, finding that “by neglecting to ‘apply—or even address—an explicit, unambiguous term of the settlement agreement,’ which “clearly and unambiguously bars recovery for claims until and including the date of the agreement,’ the arbitrator manifestly disregarded the law.” Slip op. at 7. W appealed.

Continue Reading »

Confluence of the Arcane: Headings Clauses, Arbitration Law and Reinsurance

November 28th, 2016 Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitrator Selection and Qualification Provisions, Contract Interpretation, Reinsurance Contracts, Uncategorized, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Comments Off on Confluence of the Arcane: Headings Clauses, Arbitration Law and Reinsurance

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Introduction

A Headings Clause typically provides that contract provision headings and captions are for reference purposes only, and do not negate, modify or otherwise affect the provisions to which they relate. While arguments can be made for or against Headings Clauses, they are fairly common in commercial contracts.

Contract dispute outcomes rarely turn on the interpretation or application of these clauses. But on November 16, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided Infrassure, Ltd. v. First Mutual Trasp. Assur. Co., No. 16-306, slip op. (2d Cir. 2016) (summary order), which not only turned on the meaning and application of a headings clause, but did so in the context of an arbitration-law dispute in a reinsurance case. A confluence of the arcane, indeed!

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Infrassure: Background

Infrassure was a dispute between the parties to a facultative reinsurance contract. The facultative reinsurance contract (the “Certificate”) contained two different arbitration clauses. One was in the body of the pre-printed contract (the “Form Arbitration Clause”). The other was in Endorsement No. 2 (the “Endorsement No. 2 Arbitration Clause”). Endorsement No. 2 was titled “LONDON ARBITRATION AND GOVERNING LAW (UK AND BERMUDA INSURERS ONLY).”

The Form Arbitration Clause provided for arbitration of “any dispute arising out of the interpretation, performance or breach of this Certificate.” It designated a specific set of arbitration rules to govern the arbitration, and provided that “[a]ll arbitrators will be disinterested active or former officers of insurance or reinsurance companies.”

The Endorsement No. 2 Arbitration Clause provided for arbitration of “[a]ny dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this agreement or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof,” and prescribed different arbitration rules. It did not require arbitrators to be active or former officers of insurance or reinsurance companies.

Which Arbitration Clause Applies?

The parties disputed which arbitration clause applied. Reinsurer Infrassure, Ltd. (“Infrassure” or the “Reinsurer”), argued for the Form Arbitration Clause, with its more stringent arbitrator qualification requirements. Cedent First Mutual Transportation Assurance Company (“First Mutual” or the  “Cedent”), a New York State captive insurer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, apparently wanted to appoint (or nominate) arbitrators or arbitrator candidates who were not current or former officers or directors of insurance or reinsurance companies. It therefore argued that the Endorsement 2 Arbitration Clause applied.

Infrassure, which is a Swiss company, argued that the Endorsement No. 2 Arbitration Clause did not apply because the title of the endorsement contained the parenthetical limitation “(UK and Bermuda Insurers only)” (the “Parenthetical Limitation”). It asserted in the alternative that the Endorsement No. 2 Arbitration Clause should be construed to impose the same arbitrator qualification criteria as the Form Arbitration Clause imposed.

The Headings Clause

Headings ClauseFirst Mutual argued that the Certificate’s headings clause (the “Headings Clause,” which the Court refers to as the “Titles Clause”) rendered inapplicable the Parenthetical Limitation. The Headings Clause stated: “The several titles of the various paragraphs of this Certificate (and endorsements … attached hereto) are inserted solely for convenience of reference and will not be deemed in any way to limit or affect the provisions to which they relate.”

“This argument [was] thin,” observed the Court, but a reported opinion was in order, because the dispute “requires us to construe wording that apparently has not been construed before, and that is in a contract that may share features with other standard forms and endorsements.” Slip op. at 4.

Court Holds that Headings Clause did Not Strip the U.K.-and-Bermuda-Insurer-only Limitation on the Scope of Endorsement No. 2

The Court, in an opinion by Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs (an esteemed member of the reinsurance bar before he was appointed to the Second Circuit), held that the Headings Clause was “unambiguous,” but did not negate the Parenthetical Limitation, even though that limitation appeared in the heading or title of Endorsement No. 2.

The Parenthetical Limitation, said the Court, “is not part of the title itself, though it shares the same line and bolded format.” The Heading Clause’s “purpose.  .  .  is not to strip away an express indication as to the context in which a particular provision operative, but to ensure that the text of a provision is not discounted or altered by the words of its  heading.” Slip op. at 4.

Court finds Further Support for its Conclusion by Applying First Mutual’s Heading Clause Interpretation to other Contract Provisions

The Court found confirmation of the accuracy of its conclusion “by consulting other [Certificate] provisions,” including “critical” ones, which would “would have no meaning at all if the Titles Clause were mechanically applied.” Id.

To illustrate, the Court referred to paragraph 14 of the Certificate, which, states:

Program Policy Limits

Various as per the attached schedule.

Id. (emphasis in original)

The Court observed that applying the Ceding Company’s interpretation of the Headings Clause to Paragraph 14 would reduce that paragraph to “the cryptic provision, ‘Various as per the attached schedule.’” Id. The “heading ‘Program Policy Limits,’ instructs the reader that the phrase ‘Various as per the attached schedule refers to program policy limits, as opposed to some other concern of the reinsurance agreement.” Id. That heading, said the Court, does not purport to contradict, alter or otherwise ambiguate the text that follows, but explains what the otherwise contextually ambiguous (indeed, meaningless) text was intended to mean in the context of the whole contract.

According to the Court, “other provisions beside Paragraph 14 likewise would be rendered meaningless if the [Headings Clause] were applied in the way pressed by First Mutual.” Slip op. at 4.

Given the Court’s holding, it was unnecessary to consider Infrassure’s alternative argument that the arbitrator selection provisions of the Form Arbitration Agreement should be made part of the Endorsement No. 2 Arbitration Agreement. All the Court had to say about this argument was “we need not reach [it], which  is just as well for well for Infrassure.” Slip op. at 5.

 

Photo Acknowledgements:

All photos used in the text portion of this post are licensed from Yay Images and are subject to copyright protection under applicable law. The Yay Images abbreviations of the photographer’s name for each of the three images, in order of their appearance, are:

Image 1: VIPDesignUSA

Image 2: steheap

Image 3: speedfighter

 

 

 

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