Cargill Int'l S.A. v. M/T Pavel Dybenko
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
991 F.2d 1012 (1993)

- Written by Whitney Waldenberg, JD
Facts
Cargill, B.V. (CBV) (plaintiff), a Dutch company, brought suit in United States federal district court against Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novorossiysk) (defendant), a Russian company owned by the former Soviet Union. CBV claimed that the soybean oil it purchased in South America was damaged during transport on Novorossiysk’s vessel. CBV petitioned the district court to compel arbitration of the dispute based on an arbitration provision in a shipping contract to which CBV claimed it was a third-party beneficiary. The district court denied the request to compel arbitration, finding that the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). In so ruling, the district court refused to consider CBV’s argument that it was a third-party beneficiary to an arbitration agreement that would render Novorossiysk subject to suit under an exception to the FSIA. CBV appealed, arguing that Novorossiysk fit within the arbitration exception to the FSIA.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Oakes, J.)
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