Many construction contracts these days include an arbitration provision. Those provisions generally provide that disputes between the parties will be resolved through private arbitration rather than litigation in the public court system. As with other contractual rights, the right to invoke arbitration is waivable. Waiver may be accomplished expressly or implicitly.
Legendary jurist Frank Easterbrook
On August 12, 2026, the 9th Circuit joined the D.C. Circuit in ruling that the doctrine of forum non conveniens does not apply to an action to confirm a foreign arbitral award under the New York Convention. A three-judge panel unanimously rejected the argument by award debtor, the Indian state-owned company Antrix Corp. Ltd., that
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Rules of Arbitration are commonly used to resolve international commercial disputes and parties routinely agree to be bound by them in their arbitration agreements. On June 1, 2026, the ICC issued new rules effective as of that date (2026 ICC Rules). The 2026 ICC Rules apply to all ICC
On May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously held in Jules v. Andre Balazs Properties that when a federal court stays claims pending arbitration under Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act, it retains jurisdiction to confirm or vacate the resulting award under Sections 9 and 10. 608 U.S. —, 2026 WL 1336216 (May 14
In Pott v. World Capital Properties, the 11th Circuit held that an international arbitral tribunal operating under the New York Convention may pierce the corporate veil to assert jurisdiction over a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement.
The dispute arose from an alleged breach of a stock option agreement between Alfredo Pott and World Capital
Earlier this May, we wrote about how the Alabama Supreme Court held that “hold harmless” and “indemnify” may be considered synonyms, even if the terms appear separately in a contract.
The court’s decision in Adams v. Atkinson, No. SC-2024-0528, 2025 WL 1416851 (Ala. May 16, 2025),was an important precedent at the time, as it
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a unanimous decision in CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd. v. Antrix Corp., No. 23-1201 (June 5, 2025), clarifying that the “minimum contacts” requirement is not necessary to establish personal jurisdiction over foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA). The opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, removes
Does this sound familiar? Nearly every construction contract contains an indemnification provision with some variation of these terms. And if you have ever negotiated a construction contract, you know that indemnification provisions often feature in those discussions. But are the words “indemnify” and “hold harmless” an example of lawyers
On May 8, the Second Circuit held that the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards trumps a Louisiana state law barring arbitration of insurance disputes in a pair of cases, Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, London et al. v. 3131 Veterans Blvd. LLC and Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, London et
“Manifest disregard of the law” is no longer a valid basis to challenge arbitration awards, at least not in the federal courts of Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Rather, according to the Fifth Circuit’s decision in U.S. Trinity Energy Services v. Southeast Directional Drilling, 2025 WL 1218096 (Apr. 28, 2025, No. 24-10833), the grounds for