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- UNITED STATES 2 November 2020 Elko Broadband
UNITED STATES 2 November 2020 Elko Broadband
United States District Court, District of Nevada, 2 November 2020, Case No. 3:19-cv-00610-LRH-WGC
(Elko Broadband Ltd. v. Dhabi Holdings PJSC, et al.)
UNITED STATES 2 November 2020 Elko Broadband
Presented with a motion to compel arbitration, the Court had previously found that the arbitration agreement at issue fell within the scope of the New York Convention and that it related to the dispute. In this decision, the Court denied Elko's motion for reconsideration, which based on newly discovered evidence that the person who signed the contract containing the arbitration clause on behalf of one of the defendants did not have the authority to do so. Thus, according to Elko, this non-signatory could not rely on the arbitration clause. The Court held that it need not address the factual substance of Elko's argument because the United States Supreme Court recently overturned the Eleventh Circuit precedent relied on by Elko, Outokumpu, holding that the New York Convention does not categorically prohibit non-signatories from enforcing arbitration agreements under domestic doctrines, including equitable estoppel.
The court discusses the meaning and effect of the referral of the resolution of disputes to arbitration, including: who can ask for referral and when, whether a party has waived its right to request arbitration, the defense that there was no contract at all; whether there was a condition precedent to the commencement of arbitration (e.g. mediation), stay of proceedings v. compelling arbitration, and national procedural specificities such as remand and removal (US), effect of class action. etc.
Multi-party disputes: The court discusses under which conditions non-signatories are covered by an arbitration agreement entered into by another party.