Striving for Consistency: The Battle of Jurisdiction in Enforcing Arbitration Awards

Abstract

On January 20, 2017, in Ortiz-Espinosa v. BBVA Securities of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit expanded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Vaden v. Discovery Bank and held that the “look through” approach to determine federal jurisdiction applied to petitions to enforce, modify, and vacate arbitration awards under the Federal Arbitration Act. The First Circuit relied heavily on the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Vaden to support its conclusion that applying the “look through” test created a single and consistent jurisdictional approach. This Comment argues that the First Circuit was correct in its application of the “look through” approach because it avoided the “curious practical consequences” that troubled the Vaden court.