Plaintiff Albaniabeg, power plant operator, sought enforcement of an Albanian judgment in a New York state court against defendant Italian power companies. Section 205 of the FAA permits removal of an action that relates to an arbitration award under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. The defendants sought to remove the case to federal court, claiming that the action related to the original arbitration because the Albanian judgment was obtained in violation of the parties’ arbitration clause and award. Albaniabeg moved to remand to state court due to lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction. The court held that removal was improper because the issue was unrelated to the arbitration agreement or the arbitral award; rather, the issue related to enforcement of a foreign judgment. The court held that, while certain defenses to the award may involve claims relating to the prior arbitration, the Convention does not provide subject matter jurisdiction over actions to enforce a foreign court’s judgment, even where a party contends that the foreign court’s judgment is inconsistent with an earlier arbitration award or agreement to arbitrate. Albaniabeg Ambient Sh.p.k. v. Enel S.P.A., Case No. 15 Civ. 3283 (USDC S.D.N.Y. Mar. 11, 2016).
This post written by Joshua S. Wirth.
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