Court Error – Judgment through Arbitration

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Unite Here Local 1 v. Hyatt Corporation dba as Hyatt Regency Chicago

Case No.: 15-3668

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and KANNE and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Court Error – Judgment through Arbitration

Defendant Hyatt Corporation, doing business as Hyatt Regency Chicago (“Hyatt” or the “hotel”), appeals the district court’s entry of judgment on the pleadings in favor of plaintiff Unite Here Local 1 (“Local 1″), confirming the decisions of two arbitrators in Local 1’s favor. Unite Here, Local 1 v. Hyatt Corp., 2015 WL 7077329 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 13, 2015). Hyatt contends that the matter is either moot or does not present an appropriate case for confirmation of the awards, and that the district court’s decision to confirm the awards needlessly interjects the court into an ongoing set of disputes between itself and Local 1 that should be resolved by way of further arbitration. We disagree and affirm the judgment. The district court’s modest action in confirming the awards places the court’s contempt power behind the prospective relief ordered by the arbitrators, while reserving the merits of any pending or future grievances for arbitration. Indeed, Local 1 has conceded that any contempt petition would be based solely on the outcome of arbitrations post-dating the district court’s confirmation order. Consequently, we are not convinced that the court’s decision to confirm the two awards in any way undermines the parties’ agreement to resolve their disputes through arbitration. We therefore affirm the district court’s decision.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.