Shifting the Legal Ground
The three-judge panel—composed of U.S. Circuit Judges Gerard E. Lynch, Beth Robinson, and Sarah A.L. Merriam—flatly overturned its earlier decision in Stephens v. American International Insurance Co., acknowledging that Medellín had reshaped the legal lens for judging treaty enforcement.
“The principal question before this court is whether our reasoning in Stephens has been fatally undermined,” the panel wrote. “We conclude that it has been.”
Applying the Medellín test, the court concluded that Article II, Section 3 of the New York Convention obligates courts to send cases to arbitration—unless the arbitration agreement itself is “null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.”
Hurricane Ida’s Legal Ripples
The underlying lawsuit involves claims brought by 3131 Veterans Blvd. LLC and Mpire Properties LLC against Lloyd’s of London surplus lines insurers. The dispute centers on commercial property damage incurred when Hurricane Ida ravaged parts of Louisiana in August 2021.
While the property owners sued the insurers in Louisiana state court, the insurers fired back by seeking to enforce arbitration clauses in New York—setting up a legal conflict spanning state, federal, and international law.
