Each year, there are dozens of petitions to confirm or vacate arbitration awards filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under the Federal Arbitration Act (the act). Many of these petitions invoke the federal court’s diversity jurisdiction by asserting an amount-in-controversy over $75,000. See 28 U.S.C 1332(a). The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Badgerow v. Walters, 596 U.S. 1 (2022) has made it less predictable whether federal courts will find the amount-in-controversy requirement for diversity jurisdiction has been satisfied.
The act authorizes parties to petition federal courts for confirmation or vacatur of an arbitration award. However, it is well settled that the act does not itself create federal subject matter jurisdiction over such petitions. Rather, a party seeking a federal court’s resolution of a petition under the act must demonstrate an “independent jurisdictional basis,” such as diversity or federal question jurisdiction. See Hall Street Associates v. Mattel, 552 U.S. 576, 582 (2008).
