Marc J. Goldstein Arbitrator & Mediator NYC

Recent Posts

June 26, 2011

May Foreign Companies Be Subpoenaed at the Offices of Their US Subsidiaries?

Dear Readers: Foreign companies may be exposed to US discovery sought for use in litigation outside the United States. A recent federal court decision rejected an attempt to serve a subpoena for such discovery on a Chinese company at the Chicago offices of its wholly-owned subsidiary. A discussion can be found in the Legal Developments section of my general website. www.lexmarc.us Regards. Marc Goldstein

June 22, 2011

Pro-Arbitration Foreign Anti-Suit Injunctions: An Overextension of US Judicial Hegemony?

“International comity” is the term that first springs to mind when the subject under discussion is a foreign anti-suit injunctions (which, for purposes of this commentary, means an order from a US court enjoining a party before it from proceeding with foreign litigation).  Numerous US federal appellate cases admonish district courts to permit foreign anti-suit injunctions sparingly because they interfere, indirectly but tangibly, with the exercise of jurisdiction by the judiciary of a foreign sovereign state. What should become of that admonition, and what remains of respect for the sovereignty of a foreign state’s judiciary, when the foreign litigation involves…
Read More »

June 22, 2011

Competition Stiffens for New York ADR Engagements

Dear Readers It is not usually the function of Arbitration Commentaries merely to report news of the day, but while a new post on anti-suit injunctions in aid of international arbitration is in preparation, I invite your attention to an article in today’s New York Times reporting that a disbarred former lawyer, having completed his prison term for paying kickbacks to secure clients, is seeking engagements as an arbitrator and mediator.   Read further at www.lexmarc.us under Legal Developments, where there is a link to the article itself, and if you wish, post your comments here.  Warm Regards. Marc Goldstein

June 13, 2011

Arbitrators and Untimely Motions: Thoughts on a Case Gone Awry

A recent US Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision re-affirmed some well-settled principles about the appealability of district court orders dealing with arbitration. The Court held that an order of the district court refusing to enjoin a pending arbitration was not appealable while the arbitration was in progress. (Accenture, Inc. v. Spreng, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 10933 (2d Cir. May 27, 2011)). But what seems more interesting about the case, for the practicing arbitrator, is the arbitral procedural order that led to this costly spasm of collateral litigation. Accenture was named a Respondent in a breach of contract arbitration by…
Read More »

June 08, 2011

Discovery in Aid of Post-Award Claims of Arbitrator Bias: Has the Second Circuit Opened the Floodgates?

Last week the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals wrote what should be the final chapter in one of the largest international arbitrations to emerge from the US financial crisis of 2007-2008. The case was an “international” arbitration only in the sense that Claimant was a Swiss company while Respondent was a US affiliate of a Swiss investment bank. The arbitration took place in New York under the arbitration rules of the Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and resulted in an award issued by a three-member tribunal, without reasons as is customary in FINRA arbitrations, in favor of Claimant for…
Read More »