Covington & Burling LLP | Practices, Industries & Regions

As arbitration has grown more pervasive, collateral litigation about arbitration has proliferated as well. Litigation that we handle in this area includes actions to compel or resist arbitration, to vacate or correct arbitral awards, or to recognize or enforce arbitral awards, including actions to seize assets. It also includes judicial proceedings in which parties seek interim protections or injunctive relief during the pendency of an arbitration, or seek to challenge the conduct of an arbitral proceeding, on jurisdictional or procedural grounds. Our lawyers are preeminent in this area, having handled many of the recent, leading cases relating to efforts to enforce or resist arbitration agreements and awards in the United States. In both the US and abroad, we have handled a broad range of litigation relating to arbitration ─ involving issues under the New York Convention, the U.S. Federal Arbitration Act, the UK Arbitration Act 1996, the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and other laws.

Representative Matters

JP Morgan Chase, in obtaining the dismissal of an antitrust class action alleging that a number of credit-card issuers conspired to adopt arbitration clauses in their credit card agreements. 2006 WL 2685082 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 20, 2006).
Telkom SA, the former South African state telecommunications company, in successfully resisting US enforcement of one of the largest ICC awards in recent years, following an arbitration handled by other counsel. 458 F.3d. 172 (3d Cir. 2006).
SG Cowen Securities and Société Générale, in persuading the courts to compel arbitration of claims relating to alleged wrongs by a brokerage firm. 394 F.3d 444 (6th Cir. 2005).
Bank One and JP Morgan Chase, in securing a stay of antitrust and related class-action claims in deference to arbitration clauses in credit-card agreements. 361 F.Supp. 2d 237 (S.D.N.Y. 2005).
Dow Corning, in persuading an appeals court to treat as non-binding an adverse 2:1 arbitration decision. 335 F.3d 742 (8th Cir. 2003).
International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), the world’s governing body for track and field, in persuading a US appellate court to accept its disciplinary procedure in an anti-doping case as a valid arbitration award, not subject to judicial challenge by a star athlete, Mary Decker Slaney. 244 F.3d 580 (7th Cir. 2001).