Actors' Equity Association v. Paradise Square Production Services Inc.
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:22-cv-07325
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Actors’ Equity Association v. Paradise Square, Judge Engelmayer gave Actors’ Equity more time to support its arbitration-award petition without deciding it.
Actors’ Equity Association and Paradise Square Production Services Inc.; the order set deadlines and required service but did not determine whether the arbitration award would be confirmed.
What happened
Actors’ Equity Association asked the court to confirm an arbitration award against Paradise Square Production Services Inc. Paradise Square was served but did not respond or appear.
The court treated the unanswered petition as an unopposed request for summary judgment, but explained that it still had to review Actors’ Equity’s materials and determine whether they showed that no important factual dispute remained. Actors’ Equity had submitted the parties’ contract, the arbitration award, and related materials.
Judge Engelmayer gave Actors’ Equity until October 17, 2022, to submit additional supporting materials. Paradise Square could respond by October 31, and Actors’ Equity could reply by November 7. The order did not decide whether to confirm the arbitration award.
The detailed version
- Actors' Equity Association v. Paradise Square Production Services Inc. · No. 1:22-cv-07325
- Paul Engelmayer
- Oct. 4, 2022
Background
Actors’ Equity Association filed a petition asking the court to confirm an arbitration award. The petition was filed on August 30, 2022. Actors’ Equity later filed proof that Paradise Square Production Services Inc. had been served on September 7, 2022, making Paradise Square’s answer due September 28, 2022. Paradise Square did not respond to the petition or otherwise appear.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that an unanswered petition to confirm or vacate an arbitration award is generally treated as an unopposed motion for summary judgment. Summary judgment is a procedure for deciding a matter when the supporting evidence shows that no material, or important, factual dispute requires a trial. The court also emphasized that it could not grant the request merely because Paradise Square had not opposed it. It first had to examine Actors’ Equity’s submission and determine whether Actors’ Equity had met its burden.
Actors’ Equity had submitted the parties’ contract, the arbitration award, and other materials concerning the award. The court treated those materials as supporting the summary-judgment procedure but allowed Actors’ Equity to provide additional support.
Order
The court granted Actors’ Equity an opportunity to submit additional supporting materials by October 17,
- Paradise Square’s opposition, if any, was due October 31, 2022, and Actors’ Equity’s reply, if any, was due November 7,
- Actors’ Equity also had to serve the order on Paradise Square and file proof of service by October 7,
- The court did not grant or deny the petition to confirm the arbitration award in this order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.