A federal district court recently granted defendant, Vitol Inc.’s motion to stay a claim pending arbitration. The plaintiff, ICC Chemical, argued that the parties had not agreed to arbitratre, and therefore, that the four-part inquiry used by the Second Circuit to determine whether an action is arbitrable was not satisfied. Specifically, plaintiff argued that the contract (drafted and delivered by a third party) did not contain an arbitration provision. Plaintiff did not dispute that a “confirmation” of the agreement sent four days later did contain the arbitration provision. The Court concluded that under the New York Uniform Commercial Code, the “confirmation” set forth additional contract terms and was sent in a reasoanble time period. Additionally, under New York law, arbitration provisions do not constitute material alterations to a contract. Therefore, the Court concluded that the parties had agreed to arbitrate, and stayed the action pending arbitration. ICC Chemical Corp. v. Vitol, Inc. , 09 Civ. 7750 (PKC) (USDC S.D.N.Y. Nov. 18, 2009).
This post written by Lynn Hawkins.