Merits Briefing Completed in Stolt-Nielsen v. Animalfeeds Before the U.S. Supreme Court

Washington, DC, November 24, 2009 ... Petitioners Stolt-Nielsen S.A. and other shipping companies have completed merits briefing of Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. Animalfeeds International Corp. (No. 08-1198) before the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Question Presented by the case is:

Whether imposing class arbitration on parties whose arbitration clauses are silent on that issue is consistent with the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.

The case arises from a number of antitrust disputes subject to international maritime arbitration agreements among multinational corporations engaged in oceanic shipping. Stolt-Nielsen and the other shipping companies entered into several independent bilateral shipping contracts providing for international ocean transportation of Animalfeeds’ cargo. Respondent Animalfeeds filed a putative class action against the shipping companies in federal district court, alleging violations of U.S. antitrust law. The Second Circuit held that the plaintiffs’ claims fell within the scope of the parties’ agreement to arbitrate in JLM Industries, Inc. v. Stolt-Nielsen SA, 387 F.3d 163 (2d Cir. 2004).

Animalfeeds then sought to arbitrate not only its own antitrust claims, but also the claims of a putative class of commercial shippers. Following judicial review of the arbitrators’ decision, the Second Circuit held that class arbitration could be imposed even where the arbitration agreements are silent as to class arbitration in Stolt-Nielsen SA v. Animalfeeds Int’l Corp., 548 F.3d 85 (2d Cir. 2008), the decision under review. The Petition for Certiorari of Stolt-Nielsen and the other shipping company petitioners was granted on June 15, 2009.

The Brief for Petitioners was filed in August 2009.  The Reply Brief for Petitioners was filed this month, completing merits briefing of the case.

Oral argument is scheduled for December 9, 2009 at 10:00 A.M. Further information can be found at the U.S. Supreme Court web site (docket no. 08-1198).

White & Case LLP represents the Stolt-Nielsen petitioners. Counsel for Stolt-Nielsen petitioners are Christopher M. Curran, J. Mark Gidley, Peter J. Carney, Eric Grannon, and Charles C. Moore.

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