Court Opinion

ID: 9496822
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:36:21.199466+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:49.537500
License: Public Domain

JACOBS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached in the majority opinion and subscribe to the Discussion in Parts I.A, I.D, I.E, and Part II. I write separately on the choice of law issue and certain aspects of federal common law to explain by what route I arrive at the same place as the majority.
I
Compagnie Noga DTmportation et D’Exportation S.A. (“Noga”) appeals from the district court’s refusal to confirm a Swedish arbitration award against the *691Russian Federation (the “Federation”) pursuant to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbi-tral Awards, June 10,1958, 21 U.S.T. 2517, 330 U.N.T.S. 53 (the “Convention”). Congress adopted the Convention in 1970 and implemented it through amendment to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). See 9 U.S.C. §§ 201-208 (1994). As the Supreme Court noted soon after implementation:
The goal of the Convention, and the principal purpose underlying American adoption and implementation of it, was to encourage the recognition and enforcement of commercial arbitration agreements in international contracts and to unify the standards by which agreements to arbitrate are observed and arbitral awards are enforced in the signatory countries.
Scherk v. Alberto-Culver Co., 417 U.S. 506, 520 n. 15, 94 S.Ct. 2449, 41 L.Ed.2d 270 (1974). Section 207 of the FAA says who may confirm against whom:
Within three years after an arbitral award falling under the Convention is made, any party to the arbitration may apply to any court having jurisdiction under this chapter for an order confirming the aivard as against any other party to the arbitration. The court shall confirm the award unless it finds one of the grounds for refusal or deferral of recognition or enforcement of the award specified in the said Convention.
9 U.S.C. § 207 (“§ 207”) (emphasis added). The dispositive question on this appeal is thus whether the Federation was a “party” to the arbitration proceedings that resulted in the award Noga seeks to confirm. The Federation says that it was the Government of the Russian Federation (the “Government”), and not the Federation itself, that participated in the Swedish arbitration proceedings. Noga counters that there is no legal or factual difference between the Federation and the Government, and that both entities are fully liable on Noga’s arbitration award.
As the majority opinion explains, the first thing is to determine which body of substantive law should be applied to resolve the status of the Federation vis-a-vis the Government. See Maj. Op. at 684-85. The parties offer three sources of law: private international law (which the Federation maintains mandates application of Russian Law), federal common law, and public international law. The majority opinion deems it unnecessary to cut this “Gordian choice-of-law knot” because all three sources of law yield the same result. On that basis (i.e., that the choices of law present a false conflict), the majority opinion decides that the Federation and the Government are not separate juridical entities for the purposes of a confirmation proceeding under § 207. Id. at 685.
I think that the law is sufficiently clear that there is no reason to sidestep the choice of law question disputed by the parties. The Supreme Court’s interpretation of the FAA requires the application of federal common law to determine who is a proper “party” to a confirmation proceeding brought pursuant to § 207. This result is consistent with the precedent of this Court, see Victrix Steamship Co., S.A. v. Salen Dry Cargo A.B., 825 F.2d 709, 712-13 (2d Cir.1987), and the federal interests advanced by the FAA.
Section 2 of the FAA requires that an agreement to arbitrate “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” 9 U.S.C. § 2. This “congressional declaration of a liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements ... create[s] a body of federal substantive law of arbitrability, applicable to any arbitration agreement within the coverage of the Act.” Moses H. Cone Mem. *692Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 24, 103 S.Ct. 927, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983) (emphasis added). “[A]t least since this Nation’s accession in 1970 to the Convention, and the implementation of the Convention in the same year by amendment of the Federal Arbitration Act,” the federal policy in favor of arbitration “applies with special force in the field of international commerce.” Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U.S. 614, 631, 105 S.Ct. 3346, 87 L.Ed.2d 444 (1985) (citation omitted).
The loan agreements between Noga and the Federation — which contain the parties’ agreement to arbitrate — are subject to the Convention, and thus come within the coverage of the FAA, as does Noga’s claim to confirm the Swedish arbitration awards at issue here — a cause of action created by § 207. The question whether the Federation is a proper party to a § 207 action is thus properly decided under federal common law.
This result is consistent with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the FAA and serves the important federal policy favoring international arbitration agreements. Resort to federal common law is disfavored in most contexts, but it is favored where the application of foreign law (as the Federation advocates) conflicts with an important federal policy. See Atherton v. FDIC, 519 U.S. 213, 218, 117 S.Ct. 666, 136 L.Ed.2d 656 (1997). When it comes to the enforcement of an arbitral award pursuant to § 207, “concerns of international comity, respect for the capacities of foreign and transnational tribunals, and sensitivity to the need of the international commercial system for predictability in the resolution of disputes” come into play, Mitsubishi Motors, 473 U.S. at 629, 105 S.Ct. 3346, and militate in favor of using federal common law to ascertain whether the requirements of the statute have been met. The majority opinion commits no error, and I think that the choices of law advanced by the parties present a false conflict, but I think it is a more natural development of the analysis to identify the proper source of law and apply it. Doing so provides guidance to parties considering where they may seek to enforce an arbitration agreement or to confirm an award under the Convention. Many bodies of law are potentially implicated in complex, international commercial agreements; in this case, the candidates are Swiss law, Russian law, the federal law of the United States, and international law. Parties seeking to enforce a commitment to arbitrate or an arbitration award should know that if they choose the relief afforded by Congress under the FAA, the viability of their cause of action will be adjudicated under federal law.
II
The majority opinion considers several bodies of federal common law — including the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the Eleventh Amendment, and the Bankruptcy Act — to conclude that the Russian Government is not a juridical entity separate from the Russian Federation in the context of a § 207 confirmation proceeding. Maj. Op. at 686-87. Among other things, the majority observes that “it is black letter Eleventh Amendment law that the political agencies and departments of states are entitled to the same sovereign immunity as the state.” Id. at 688. I respectfully submit that this characterization overstates the reach of the Eleventh Amendment and allocates insufficient weight to the presumption “that government instrumentalities established as juridical entities distinct and independent from their sovereign should normally be treated as such.” First National City Bank v. Banco Para El Comercio Exterior de Cuba, 462 U.S. 611, 626-27, 103 S.Ct. 2591, 77 L.Ed.2d 46 *693(1988) (“Bancec”); see generally, id. at 623-33, 103 S.Ct. 2591.
The Court in Bancec recognized that separate juridical status ought to be respected in most cases, but nonetheless allowed Citibank to take an offset for assets expropriated by Cuba against the proceeds of a letter of credit presented to Citibank by a bank created and operated by the Cuban government. Id. at 633, 103 S.Ct. 2591. The Court applied principles of federal common law and international law — rather than Cuban law — to resolve the issue of the bank’s status vis-á-vis the Cuban government, because “to give conclusive effect to [Cuban] law ... in determining whether the separate juridical status of its [bank] should be respected would permit the state to violate with impunity the rights of third parties under international law while effectively insulating itself from liability in foreign courts.” Id. at 621-22, 103 S.Ct. 2591. In this case, therefore, even though the Federation may be “interpos[ing] its separate juridical status” (id. at 623, 103 S.Ct. 2591) to defeat a legitimate claim for arbitral confirmation, Bancec requires that we start with a robust presumption that the Government and the Federation are separate juridical entities.
I agree with the majority opinion that the Russian Government would share in any (hypothetical) Eleventh Amendment immunity the Russian Federation would enjoy under federal law, but I do not think the Government’s immunity is a forgone conclusion. “[T]he [Supreme] Court has consistently refused to construe the [Eleventh] Amendment to afford protection to political subdivisions ... even though such entities exercise a ‘slice of state power.’ ” Lake Tahoe Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 440 U.S. 391, 401, 99 S.Ct. 1171, 59 L.Ed.2d 401 (1979). It is only when a state-created entity functions as a “arm of the state” that it takes on the state’s Eleventh Amendment immunity. Thus, if the Russian Government would share in the Federation’s (hypothetical) immunity under the Eleventh Amendment, the Federation is a proper party to Noga’s § 207 confirmation proceeding.
This Court revamped its application of the arm-of-the-state doctrine in Mancuso v. New York State Thruway Authority, 86 F.3d 289 (2d Cir.1996). In the first of two steps, we examine the six factors derived from Lake Tahoe:
(1) how the entity is referred to in the documents that created it; (2) how the governing members of the entity are appointed; (3) how the entity is funded; (4) whether the entity’s function is traditionally one of local or state government; (5) whether the state has a veto power over the entity’s actions; and (6) whether the entity’s obligations are binding upon the state.
Mancuso, 86 F.3d at 293. If these factors point in different directions, we ask: “(a) will allowing the entity to be sued in federal court threaten the integrity of the state? and (b) does it expose the state treasury to risk?” Id.; accord Hess v. Port Auth. Trans-Hudson Corp., 513 U.S. 30, 47-52, 115 S.Ct. 394, 130 L.Ed.2d 245 (1994).
Applying the Lake Tahoe factors to this case, it is clear enough that the Russian Government is an arm of the Russian Federation.
Creating Documents. The Government is given life through the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Under Article 10, “State power in the Russian Federation [is] exercised on the basis of the separation of the legislative, executive and judiciary branches,” Konst. RF art. 10; it is exercised “by the President of the Russian Federation, the Federal Assembly (Council of the Federation and State Duma), the government of the Russian Federation and courts of the Russian Federation.” Id. *694art. 11(1) (emphasis added). The Government’s role as an executor of state power is reiterated in Article 78: “[t]he President of the Russian Federation and the government of the Russian Federation shall, under the Constitution [of the Russian Federation], exercise the authority of federal state power throughout the territory of the Russian Federation. Id. art. 78(4) (emphasis added).”
Chapter 6 of the Russian Constitution deals specifically with the Government and its objects. Under Article 110:
(1) Executive power in the Russian Federation shall be exercised by the Government of the Russian Federation.
(2) The Government of the Russian Federation shall consist of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairmen of the Government and federal ministers.
Id. at art. 110. Taken together, the Constitutional description of the Government as a repository and designated executor of “state” power weighs in favor of immunity.
Appointment of governing members. The President of the Federation (himself an executor of state power) appoints the Chairman of the Government with the consent of the State Duma. Id. art. 83(a). The President also has the right to “preside” over meetings of the Government and can “decide on resignation of the Government.” Id. arts. 83(b), (c). Moreover, the President has plenary power to “appoint and dismiss deputy chairmen of the Government ... and federal ministers as proposed by the Chairman of the Government ...” Id. art. 83(e). These provisions suggest that the members of the Government serve entirely at the pleasure of the president, who is a separate (and by implication, hierarchically superior) executor of state power. These circumstances militate in favor of immunity. Compare Lake Tahoe, 440 U.S. at 401-02, 99 S.Ct. 1171 (finding no immunity and noting that six of ten governing members of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (“TRPA”) are appointed by counties and cities; only four are appointed by Nevada and California); Mancuso, 86 F.3d at 295 (“This factor ... favors a finding of immunity: all three board members are appointed by the Governor of New York with the advice and consent of the state Senate.”)
Funding: The record on this factor is not voluminous. Still, the Federation’s own expert adduces facts that would favor immunity:
According to the 1964 Civil Code (article 24), which was still in force in 1991-92 when the Loan agreements were signed, there were State institutions, which generally could freely dispose of money received from the state budget within their estimates. The Government is such an institution. Similarly, certain assets are conceded to the Government’s management for the Government’s need. The Government receives funding from the State in accordance with its budget. And it can use that funding, among other things, to pay salaries to personnel, to pay for electricity, water supply and waste removal, and to enter into certain civil contracts.
(Opinion of Alexei Avtonomov at ¶ 9.) The Government’s financial dependency on the Federation favors immunity. Compare Lake Tahoe, 440 U.S. at 402, 99 S.Ct. 1171 (funding provided by counties [i.e., non-immune political subdivisions], not the States of California and Nevada); Mancuso, 86 F.3d at 295 (noting that New York state was not required to fund the New York State Thruway Authority; finding no immunity and observing that “the limited nature of [any] instances of state funding establish that in general the Thruway Authority is self-funded”).
The entity’s functions. This factor weighs heavily in favor of immunity. The *695duties of the Russian Government, set forth below in extenso, are enumerated in the Russian Constitution:
(1) The Government of the Russian Federation shall:
(a) develop and submit the federal budget to the State Duma and ensure compliance therewith; submit a report on the execution of the federal budget to the State Duma;
(b) ensure the implementation in the Russian Federation of a uniform financial, credit and monetary policy;
(c) ensure the implementation in the Russian Federation of a uniform state policy in the field of culture, science, education, health, social security and ecology;
(d) manage federal property;
(e) adopt measures to ensure the country’s defense, state security and the implementation of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation;
(f) implement measures to ensure legality, the rights and freedoms of citizens, protect property and public law and order and control crime;
(g) exercise any other powers vested in it by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws and the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation.
(2) The work of the Government of the Russian Federation shall be regulated by federal constitutional law.
RF Konst, art. 114 (emphasis added). These mandates are obligations of a state. Local governments do not make monetary policy, implement foreign policy, or provide for national defense. Compare Lake Tahoe, 440 U.S. at 402, 99 S.Ct. 1171 (“The regulation of land use is traditionally a function performed by local governments.”); Mancuso, 86 F.3d at 295 (noting that the New York State Thruway operates and constructs roads and bridges throughout the entire state, “a function the state would normally provide”). Broad objects of state government in the Federation are set forth in Article 7:
The Russian Federation shall protect the work and health of its people, establish a guaranteed minimum wage, provide state support for family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood, and also for the disabled and for elderly citizens, develop a system of social services and establish government pensions, benefits and other social security guarantees.
Konst. RF art. 7(2). As the district court noted, the loan agreements underlying this arbitration dispute
extended credits and loans totaling $550,000,000 to the [Government] for the purchase of durable goods, consumer goods, agro-industrial products, and foodstuffs .... On January 29, 1992, Noga and the Government ... entered into a loan agreement in which Noga extended $400,000,000 of credit for the purchase of pesticides and other agrochemical products.
Compagnie Noga D'Importation et D’Exportation S.A. v. Russian Federation, No. 00 Civ. 0632, 2002 WL 31106345 at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 19, 2002). The products purchased (and the magnitude of the loans) suggest that the Government entered into these agreements for the benefit of the Russian people and economy.
Veto power. Article 115 of the Russian Constitution provides that:
The decrees and executive orders of the Government of the Russian Federation may be repealed by the President of the Russian Federation if they contravene the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws and the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation.
Konst. RF art. 115(3). This language suggests that the Government can enact decrees and orders, independent of the President, that are not subject to presidential *696veto. But the President’s power to fire Government ministers at will and call for the Government’s resignation is a veto de facto, i.e., the Government is not going to do anything the President opposes. Compare Lake Tahoe, 440 U.S. at 402, 99 S.Ct. 1171 (noting that the TRPA’s authority “within its jurisdiction is not subject to veto at the state level”); Mancuso, 86 F.3d at 295 (noting that once appointed, the actions of Thruway officials are “essentially unreviewable either by other state officers, or by the Legislature”). The Federation’s expert agrees with this view: “[t]he President may also dismiss in any moment the Government. The Government is politically dependent upon the President and the Parliament and the Government’s authority is limited.” (Opinion of Alexei Av-tonomov at ¶ 12.)
Whether the Entities Obligations are binding on the State. This inquiry is somewhat circular here; nonetheless: (i) the Government appears to be entirely dependent on the State for funding (see discussion of the funding factor, supra); and (ii) according to Noga’s expert, “ ‘the national internal debt of the Russian Federation [was] defined as the liabilities of the Russian Federation Government in the currency of the Russian Federation (hereinafter ‘the liabilities of the Russian Federation’) to legal entities and individuals’ ” through at least the year 2000. (Opinion of Mikhail Issakovich Braginsky (quoting Art. 1 Russian Federation Law No. 3877-1 of the 13th of November 1992).) The Federation’s expert counters that the Government’s loan agreement with Noga was denominated in U.S. dollars and notes that the law has been repealed, but offers no evidence that the Government’s debts are its own, independent of the Federation.
Taken together, all of the Lake Tahoe factors as applied to the Russian Government militate in favor of hypothetical Eleventh Amendment immunity; that analysis indicates that the Federation is properly liable as a “party” against whom Noga’s arbitration award can be enforced. The majority opinion reaches essentially the same conclusion in its analysis of Russian law. See Maj. Op. at 685-86. But in the context of a confirmation action under the FAA, the status of the Government under its creating documents and the other “arm of the state” criteria is properly examined under federal common law.
* * % * * #
I subscribe to the majority opinion’s discussion of federal common law in all other respects,, and concur in the result that the Russian Federation is a proper party to the underlying § 207 confirmation proceeding and should be liable for any recovery to which Noga may be entitled pending resolution of the issues remanded for further consideration.