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UNITED STATES 1009 A
United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 30 July 2020
(SSI (Beijing) Company Ltd. v. Prosper Business Development Corporation)
UNITED STATES 1009 A
The Magistrate Judge of the District Court issued a recommendation to grant Prosper Business's crossmotion to refer the dispute to arbitration under the New York Convention, and denied SSI's motion for a declaration that the parties' arbitration clause was invalid under Chinese law and for an order enjoining any and all further proceedings in the arbitration. The Recommendation rejected SSI's argument that that the arbitration clause was invalid because it failed to specify an arbitration institution. The recommendation was adopted by the District Court on 3 September 2020.
See also United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 3 September 2020
(SSI (Beijing) Company Ltd. v. Prosper Business Development Corporation)
UNITED STATES 1009 B
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.
The court discusses which law – lex fori, lex contractus, law of the State where the award will be made – applies specifically to determining whether an agreement to arbitrate is “null and void etc.“, and, by extension, which law applies to determining the validity of arbitration agreements.