Judge Denies ex-Seller’s Petition to Vacate Arbitration Award in Amazon’s Favor

U.S. District Judge John Koeltl for Southern New York in Manhattan denied a former Amazon third-party seller's motion to remand to New York Supreme Court its petition to vacate an arbitrator’s award in Amazon’s favor (see 2306130004), Koeltl’s signed memorandum opinion and order Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-04869) said. The judge also denied Longyan Junkai Information Technology's motion to vacate the award but granted Amazon’s cross-motion to confirm the award. Longyan sought $461,000 in sales proceeds that Amazon seized, and the arbitrator let it keep, after Amazon deactivated the online store for allegedly selling counterfeit goods. “A party seeking to vacate an arbitration award faces a formidable task,” said the judge’s order. Longyan argued that the award should be vacated because it was irrational, in manifest disregard of the law and violated public policy. Longyan’s suggestion that the award was irrational “is not a valid basis for vacating an arbitration award” in the 2nd Circuit, the memorandum said. On the seller's manifest disregard claim, this isn't one of the exceedingly rare instances where an arbitrator acted in manifest disregard of the law, the order said. The judge also found that the award “does not run afoul of the public policy of any jurisdiction raised by the parties or basic notions of morality and justice,” it said.