Opinion ID: 785472
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Framework for Confirming International Arbitration Awards

Text: 24 Because Noga is seeking to enforce an arbitration award rendered in a foreign state, the confirmation of the Phase I Award is governed by the framework set forth in the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, June 10, 1958, 21 U.S.T. 2517, 330 U.N.T.S. 53 (Convention), as implemented by, and reprinted in, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. §§ 201-08. Under the Convention, [a] district court's role in reviewing a foreign arbitral award is strictly limited and the showing required to avoid summary confirmance is high. Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim & Sons, W.L.L. v. Toys R Us, Inc., 126 F.3d 15, 19, 23 (2d Cir.1997) (internal quotation marks omitted). Specifically, the FAA provides that, upon the application of a party to an arbitration award made pursuant to the Convention, a district court shall enter an order confirming the award as against any other party to the arbitration, unless the court finds one of the grounds for refusal or deferral of recognition or enforcement of the award specified in the... Convention. 9 U.S.C. § 207. As the party opposing confirmation, the Russian Federation bore the burden of establishing that the Phase I Award should not have been honored. See Ministry of Def. of the Islamic Republic of Iran v. Gould, Inc., 969 F.2d 764, 770 (9th Cir.1992) (citing La Societe Nationale Pour La Recherche v. Shaheen Natural Res. Co., 585 F.Supp. 57, 61 (S.D.N.Y.1983), aff'd, 733 F.2d 260 (2d Cir.1984) (per curiam)). This burden is imposed because the public policy in favor of international arbitration is strong. Fotochrome, Inc. v. Copal Co., 517 F.2d 512, 516 (2d Cir.1975). 25 The District Court declined to confirm the Phase I Award on the grounds that (i) the Russian Federation was not a party to the Swedish arbitration proceedings and (ii) this case did not fall under one of the limited exceptions in which we have held that an arbitration award can be enforced against a nonparty. See Monegasque De Reassurances S.A.M (Monde Re) v. Nak Naftogaz of Ukr., 311 F.3d 488, 495 (2d Cir.2002) (listing five theories for binding nonsignatories to arbitration agreements: incorporation by reference, assumption, agency, veil-piercing/alter ego, and estoppel); see also Bridas S.A.P.I.C. v. Gov't of Turkmenistan, 345 F.3d 347, 355-56 (5th Cir.2003). Consequently, the District Court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to confirm the award against the Russian Federation. For the reasons that follow, we disagree with the District Court's conclusion that it lacked jurisdiction to confirm the Phase I Award against the Russian Federation.