The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has held that time deadlines in arbitration agreement must be strictly enforced, affirming a District Court decision previously reported on in this blog in December 11, 2006 and August 24, 2006 posts. The dispute arose out of the timing of appointing an arbitrator in an international arbitration.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that when Argonaut, a California-based insurer, missed the deadline for appointing one of the arbitrators in an international arbitration, it lost its right to appoint an arbitrator. The arbitration agreement required that the parties make their appointments by a certain time. The appointment deadline fell on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. When Argonaut did not appoint its arbitrator, Lloyd’s appointed an arbitrator for that position on the panel, giving it two party-appointed arbitrators. Argonaut argued that in light of the holiday, the notice it gave on the Tuesday after Labor Day was a “timely nomination” of the arbitrator. The court disagreed, holding that “[i]n the absence of a choice-of-law provision, we conclude that parties are to be bound to the explicit language of arbitration clauses, with no state-specific exceptions that would extend otherwise clear contractual deadlines.” Certain Underwriters at Lloyds v. Argonaut Ins. Co., No. 04 c 5852 (7th Cir. Aug. 29, 2007).