Chalos & Co, P.C.

07/17/2025

No Summer Vacation for Foreign Arbitration Awards: Second Circuit strengthens Law on Recognition

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion on July 2, 2025, which strengthens the recognition and enforceability of foreign arbitration awards by curtailing collateral attacks. The case arose from an arbitration held in Geneva that resulted in an award for damages resulting from breach of a joint venture agreement together with declaratory relief, plus costs and attorneys’ fees. Inverting the usually posture of a case brought under the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the losing party petitioned the U.S. federal court to vacate the award under U.S. law on the grounds of fraud, alleged arbitrator partiality, refusal to hear new evidence, and the awards’ disregard for New York law, which was governing under the contract. Petitioners further asserted that the Federal Arbitration Act’s vacatur provision applied equally to foreign awards.

The Second Circuit rejected the position and held that under the Federal Arbitration Act and New York Convention, a court may only decline to enforce a foreign arbitration agreement when one of the five (5) grounds in Article V of the Convention are satisfied. The opinion explained, “The Convention was not intended to provide a vehicle for the second-guessing and invalidation by one jurisdiction of arbitral awards generated in another; it was designed to enhance the portability of awards by streamlining the process by which they could be recognized and enforced abroad. Molecular Dynamics, Ltd., et al. v. Spectrum Dynamics Med. Ltd., et al., 24-2209-cv, slip op. at 33 (2nd Cir 2025).

The Court’s full decision is on uscourts.gov

For more information about the recognition and enforcement of arbitration awards in the U.S., please contact: [email protected]

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07/09/2025

In the wake of the fatal Texas Hill Country flooding, the Texas Supreme Court has issued an emergency order, which acknowledges the widespread loss of life, property, and the disruption to court personnel, attorneys, and litigants:
Court proceedings shall be suspended or modified where flooding has made travel or deadlines unfeasible;

- Proceedings, deadlines, and hearings, may be paused or extended; and
- The statute of limitations for civil claims may be suspended if claimant shows the flooding prohibited a timely filing.
- All attorneys and litigants are encouraged to reach an agreement on extensions or accommodations required as a result of this disaster.

The full Emergency Order is available on www.txcourts.gov and can be read here:https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1460882/259035.pdf

Our thoughts are with all those impacted by this tragedy during this difficult time.

07/04/2025

Our principal and founder, George M. Chalos, was recently invited to speak at Steamship Mutual’s 2025 Member Training Course in Southampton.

The session focused on MARPOL enforcement in the United States, where George shared his expertise on how these complex matters are investigated, prosecuted and defended. In addition to sharing best practices for navigating such matters, George discussed practical guidance for all stakeholders, including owners, operators, seafarers, and insurers.

Thank you to the Steamship team for inviting Chalos & Co. P.C. to contribute to such a valuable event.

If you or your organization is interested in learning more about MARPOL, the act to prevent pollution from ships, and environmental compliance, please contact us at: [email protected]

12/21/2022

11/17/2022

On Wednesday November 16, 2022, a twelve (12) person federal jury sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana returned a unanimous verdict in New Orleans, Louisiana; finding Chief Engineer Warlito Tan, Jr. NOT GUILTY on all four (4) felony counts against him. The governm...

11/09/2022

09/08/2022

In a recent decision on September 1, 2022, District Judge Wu of the Central District of California dismissed the seaman’s manslaughter charge against Captain Jerry Boylan, the captain of the dive boat Conception which caught fire and sank off of Santa Cruz Island in September 2019 and killed 34 pe...

08/12/2022

Chalos & Co, P.C. was recently published in TradeMaker Magazine for the article, “Second Circuit rejects Enforcement of Nearly all of Multi-billion Arbitration Award.”  The article provides a detailed analysis of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Esso Expl. And Prod. Nigeria...

07/14/2022

On Friday July 8, 2022, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision which affirmed in substantive part the District Court’s denial of a petition to recognize a foreign arbitration award in favor of Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd. (a wholly owned Nigerian subsidiary of Exxon Mo...

06/29/2022

Southern District of New York Strikes Expert Interpreting Marine Insurance Policy -

On June 21, 2022, Magistrate Judge Gorenstein of the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.) issued an Opinion & Order in Navigators Insurance Company v. Goyard, Inc., 20-cv-6609, striking Plaintiff’s expert on the basis that his opinion was an impermissible legal conclusion interpreting the insu...

06/21/2022

Maritime Risk Podcast: Why are Marpol detentions and prosecutions still occurring? -

In the latest edition of The Maritime Risk Podcast, Shoreline CEO Captain Thomas Brown sat down with George Chalos to discuss MARPOL detentions and prosecutions in the United States.  Specifically, the discussion centered around the question: “Why are MARPOL prosecutions in the US as prevalent to...