A decision in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned its precedent regarding international arbitration awards, and thus ruled in line with other federal appellate courts, is the subject of a new commentary by  Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge (above left) and student Vladyslav Rudzinskyi, a member of the Master of Laws (LL.M.) Class of 2023.

Their article, entitled “Eleventh Circuit Switches Stance on Grounds for the Vacatur of Non-Domestic Awards,” appeared on May 11 in the Daily Report.

The article discusses Corporacion AIC, SA v. Hidroelectrica Santa Rita S.A., an en banc April 13, 2023, decision in which the Eleventh Circuit set aside panel precedents to hold that vacatur proceedings related to non-domestic awards are governed by chapter 1 the Federal Arbitration Act. Noting that the new decision corresponds with others in the Second, Third, Sixth, and Tenth Circuits, Rutledge and Rudzinskyi concluded noted:

“Previously, arbitration practitioners in the Eleventh Circuit (especially hubs like Atlanta and Miami) could tout its distinctive vacatur standards as a reason to site disputes there.

“Those standards had aligned the Eleventh Circuit with international jurisdictions following the UNCITRAL Model Arbitration Law (whose vacatur standards track those under the New York Convention). Corporacion strips the Eleventh Circuit of that potential comparative advantage as an arbitral forum.”

They further warned that “[t]he new standard risks diluting the enforceability of international awards.”