UNITED STATES 21 December 2020 Sergiy Gumenyuk
United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, 21 December 2020, CIVIL ACTION NO. H-20-00285
(Sergiy Gumenyuk v. Marlow Navigation Company, Ltd, et al.)
UNITED STATES 21 December 2020 Sergiy Gumenyuk
The Court denied a motion to compel arbitration in an admiralty case in which Gumenyuk, a seaman, sought damages for injuries. The Court found that the applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement, while utilizing the word "Arbitration" in the label, and having a singular reference to "arbitrators" in one Article, did not state that a seafarer's claims were subject to arbitration. The Court concluded that there was no arbitration agreement between the parties.
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.
The court discusses how to interpret the Convention’s requirement that the agreement is not null and void etc., as well as specific cases of invalidity: e.g., lack of consent (misrepresentation, duress, or fraud), vague wording of the arbitral clause; other terms of the contract contradict the intention to arbitrate, etc.