Fifth Circuit Reverses Judgment for Foreign Seaman

Fifth Circuit Reverses Judgment for Foreign Seaman:

District Court Errs Using U.S. Public Policy to Upset Foreign Arbitral Award 

Prospective-Waiver Applicable Only To Statutory Rights

By: Maria Aurora Deguzman

Asignacion v. Rickmers Genoa Schiffahrtsfesellschaft, MbH, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (No. 14-30132, April 16, 2015).In an anxiously awaited opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously reversed a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana which denied the defendant’s motion to enforce a foreign arbitral award under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, generally referred to as the New York Convention.The case has a long history jockeying back and forth between Louisiana state and federal courts to an arbitration in The Philippines. The seaman was injured while the vessel to which he was assigned was in the Port of New Orleans. Suit was filed in state court in Orleans Parish and removed, then remanded and finally sent to arbitration in The Philippines pursuant to the Filipino seaman’s contract.  The arbitrators entered an award in favor of the seaman under the laws of The Philippines.  The seaman then filed suit in state court in New Orleans against Rickmers to show cause why the award should not be set aside for violating the public policy of the U.S. Rickmers then removed the suit to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and brought an action to enforce the arbitral award under the New York Convention.The unanimous panel of the Fifth Circuit in an opinion written by Judge Owens held that the trial court committed error in refusing to enforce the award by determining that it denied the plaintiff a right to pursue general maritime remedies and thus violated the public policy of the U.S. “[T]hat finding is insufficient to support the conclusion that the public policy of the United States requires refusing to enforce the award.”Similarly, the trial court committed error in applying the prospective-waiver doctrine to refuse to recognize the award. “[T]he prospective-waiver doctrine is limited to statutory rights and remedies.”  It has not been extended beyond that to non-statutory maritime remedies.The case was remanded ordering enforcement of the award.The decision is available at: http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/14/14-30132-CV0.pdf