The case of the day is Park Lane IBS LLC v. Unbnd Group Pty. Ltd. (S.D.N.Y. 2024). In a FINRA arbitration, the tribunal issued an award that granted some relief to Park Lane but denied its claim for indemnification and for attorney’s fees. Park Lane moved to set aside the award to the extent it denied that relief, but it otherwise sought to confirm the award. Unbnd, an Australian firm, argued that the award should be confirmed in its entirety, and it opposed Park Lane’s motion to set part of the award aside. The motion to set aside was filed in the New York Supreme Court, but Unbnd removed the case on diversity grounds. (Why not under Chapter 2 of the FFA, as Unbnd was foreign and, it seems, the case fell under the New York Convention?)

Unbnd argued that the motion to set aside had to be denied because it was not served on Unbnd within three months, as required by the FAA. Park Lane had sought to serve notice under New York law before removal, and so the propriety of the notice had to be judged under state law, even after removal.

Park Lane had served the papers by serving them on the New York Secretary of State, since state law permits that method of service on foreign corporation. The law also requires that the documents be served via registered mail. Here, Park Lane did both things and received the signature acknowledging delivery within the three months. Australia had not objected to service by postal channels under Article 10 of the Service Convention, so all of this was entirely correct. The only somewhat surprising bit is that the signature acknowledgement for international registered mail should have come back within the time. Registered mail, in my experience, can be very slow.