In a noteworthy ruling, a U.S. court has followed Fifth Circuit jurisprudence to enforce an unsigned insurance arbitration agreement under the New York Convention. This case pertained to an arbitration agreement under scrutiny, argued by the insured to be unenforceable in light of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (commonly known as the New York Convention) due to an absence of signatures from all parties involved. This, according to the insured, contravenes Article II of the Convention which necessitates ‘an agreement in writing.’
However, the district court held a contrasting view, and instead leveraged a precedent from a 1994 Fifth Circuit case, Sphere Drake Insurance PLC v. Marine Towing Inc..
The key takeaway from Marine Towing case is that an arbitration agreement does not require signatures from all parties, to be deemed valid and enforceable. As this case has recently resurfaced, legal professionals and corporations alike may wish to revisit their understanding of the enforceability under the New York Convention and consider how it could affect their own arbitration agreements.
For more details on the recent court ruling and its potential implications, visit the full article on JD Supra.