Fifth Circuit Withdraws Prior Opinion in Case Involving Arbitration
This post has been viewed 6,380 times.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has withdrawn its earlier opinion following a second rehearing of a case involving arbitration. In Stemcor USA Inc. v. Cia Siderurgica do Para Cosipar, et al., No. 16-30984 (June 25, 2019), two foreign corporate creditors, Daewoo and Thyssenkrupp Mannex GMBH (“TKM”), sought to attach the same pig iron that was owned by America Metals Trading, LLP (“AMT”) after AMT apparently failed to comply with its separate contractual obligations with each company. In the case, Daewoo filed a lawsuit against AMT in the Eastern District of Louisiana seeking both an order compelling arbitration and attachment of pig iron AMT had stored on a ship that was docked in New Orleans. According to Daewoo, the company’s request for attachment was merited under both maritime law and Louisiana’s non-resident attachment statute. The district court initially agreed and issued an attachment order in favor of Daewoo.
Later, TKM attached the same pig iron in a Louisiana state court and intervened in the federal case. After that, the federal district court vacated Daewoo’s attachment since the company’s motion to compel arbitration “was not an ‘action for a money judgment.’” In addition, the district court transferred the pig iron sale proceeds to the state court. Daewoo then filed an appeal with the Fifth Circuit over “the district court’s conclusion that its Louisiana non-resident attachment writ was invalid.” Eventually, the Fifth Circuit certified the question to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Read original articleTags:
