In cases involving contracts between U.S. companies, courts frequently allow a nonsignatory to a contract to enforce an arbitration provision in the contract against a signatory when the signatory to the contract relies on the terms of that agreement in asserting its claims against the nonsignatory. On June 1, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that this principle — known as “equitable estoppel”— may also be applied to international contracts governed by the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the New York Convention, because nothing in that Convention conflicts with the enforcement of arbitration agreements by nonsignatories under domestic law equitable estoppel doctrines.
The Supreme Court’s decision in GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS, Corp. v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC[1] overturned a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, and resolves a split on this issue between the 11th and 9th Circuits on the one hand, and the 1st and 4th Circuits on the other.
The Supreme Court’s decision brings the enforcement of arbitration provisions in international contracts into conformity with the enforcement of such provisions in domestic contracts in regard to the potential for nonsignatories to compel a signatory to bring its claims in arbitration, rather than to litigate against the nonsignatory in court, when the conditions for equitable estoppel are met.
GE Energy concerned a company that entered into three contracts with F.L. Industries, Inc. for the construction of cold rolling mills at a steel manufacturing plant in Alabama. Each of the contracts contained an identical arbitration clause, providing for arbitration of disputes to take place in German in accordance with the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce. After executing those agreements, F.L Industries entered into a subcontract agreement with GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS, Corp. (GE Energy) for the design, manufacture and supply of motors for the cold rolling mills. The owner of the steel plant and its insurers filed suit against GE Energy in Alabama state court, alleging that the motors it supplied failed, resulting in substantial damages.
GE Energy removed the action to federal court and then moved to dismiss and compel arbitration of the claims, relying on the arbitration clauses in the contracts between F.L. Industries and the original owner of the plant. The District Court...
