‘Disappointment’ Over Arbitrator’s Ruling Is Driving 2nd Circuit Appeal: Verizon

Plaintiff-appellant Yehuda Herskovic admits that he brought his 2nd Circuit appeal against Verizon “solely because the arbitrator denied him damages,” said Verizon’s appellee brief Monday (docket 23-648). Three separate judges and the arbitrator all held that the parties had a binding arbitration agreement covering Herskovic's claims, said the brief: “In other words, the arbitrator had authority to hear the case, and the court had authority to confirm the arbitrator’s award." Herskovic sued Verizon to block an early termination fee that the carrier previously agreed to waive. When Verizon successfully compelled his claims to arbitration, the arbitrator ruled in Herskovic’s favor that he wasn’t liable for the termination fee, but denied his request for money damages. That prompted Herskovic to move the district court for an order vacating the arbitrator’s ruling, and it’s the court’s denial of that motion that he’s appealing to the 2nd Circuit. Herskovic “has dragged out this simple case for nearly five years, resisting every order entered on ever-shifting grounds,” said Verizon’s brief. None of the issues Herskovic purports to raise in his appeal “provide grounds for overturning the trial court’s orders compelling arbitration and confirming the arbitration award,” it said. The district court didn’t err in compelling his claims to arbitration under the parties’ broadly worded arbitration agreement and in confirming the resultant arbitration award, said the brief. His “disappointment” that the arbitrator denied his requested damages “is the motivation behind this appeal, but it has no bearing on the propriety of the district court’s decisions,” it said.