Ex-Amazon Seller Seeks Reconsideration of Judge’s Denial of Its Vacatur Petition

Former Amazon third-party seller Jiakeshu Technology seeks reconsideration of U.S. District Judge Jessica Clarke for Southern New York's Jan. 3 opinion and order denying Jiakeshu’s petition to vacate an arbitration award in Amazon’s favor (see 2401040004), said its memorandum Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-10119) in support of its motion. Arbitrator Billie Colombaro, a retired 3rd Circuit appellate judge from Louisiana, ruled in August 2022 that Amazon could freeze $50,000 in Jiakeshu sales proceeds after it deactivated the third-party store for paying customers to submit fake positive reviews, in violation of the parties’ business solutions agreement (see 2307190030). New evidence came to Jiakeshu’s attention in early January that when Colombaro was appointed to the case in April 2022, she failed to disclose that she once ruled in Amazon’s favor in a separate 2017 case, said the memorandum. The new evidence indicates Colombaro’s “evident partiality and arbitrator misconduct,” which has prejudiced Jiakeshu's rights “to a fair hearing and due process under the law,” it said. The new evidence mandates Colombaro’s removal under Section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act, it said.