ORION SHIP. & TRAD. CO. v. Eastern States Petroleum Corp.

• Decision Date: 18 January 1963
• Docket Number: No. 188,Docket 27671.,188
• Citation: 312 F.2d 299
• Parties: ORION SHIPPING & TRADING CO., Inc., Libellant-Appellee-Appellant, v. EASTERN STATES PETROLEUM CORPORATION OF PANAMA, S.A., Respondent-Appellant, and Eastern States Petroleum and Chemical Corporation and Signal Oil & Gas Company, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

312 F.2d 299 (1963)

ORION SHIPPING & TRADING CO., Inc., Libellant-Appellee-Appellant, v. EASTERN STATES PETROLEUM CORPORATION OF PANAMA, S.A., Respondent-Appellant, and Eastern States Petroleum and Chemical Corporation and Signal Oil & Gas Company, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 188, Docket 27671.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued January 8, 1963.

Decided January 18, 1963.

Healy, Baillie & Burke, New York City (Raymond J. Burke and Thomas A. Dillon, Jr., New York City, of counsel), for libellant-appellee-appellant.

Bigham, Englar, Jones & Houston, New York City (J. Joseph Noble and J. Bond Smith, Jr., New York City, of

counsel), for respondents-appellants-appellees.

Before CLARK, KAUFMAN and HAYS, Circuit Judges.

KAUFMAN, Circuit Judge.

Libellant Orion Shipping & Trading Co., Inc., entered into a contract of affreightment with one of the respondents, Eastern States Petroleum Corporation of Panama, S.A. (Eastern Panama), whereby Orion was to transport oil furnished by Eastern Panama from the Persian Gulf to Houston, Texas. Eastern Panama's obligations under the contract were guaranteed by its parent corporation, Eastern States Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, referred to here as Eastern American, and by Eastern American's successor corporation, Signal Oil & Gas Company. When Eastern Panama notified Orion of its decision to terminate the contract because of a presidential promulgation limiting the importation of crude oil into the United States, Orion secured an order, affirmed by this Court, 2 Cir., 284 F.2d 419 (1960), compelling Eastern Panama to submit to arbitration¹ the question of breach of contract and damages to Orion. Although it was clear that the liability of Eastern Panama only was to be determined by the arbitrator — such was the decision of this Court and the stipulation of the parties — and although Eastern American's (Signal's) guarantee was not submitted into evidence, the arbitrator determined not only that Eastern Panama was responsible for breach of contract to the extent of $988,081.98 plus interest, but also that Signal was liable on its guarantee if Eastern Panama were to default.

Eastern Panama's motion to vacate the award of damages on the ground that it was improperly calculated was correctly denied by Judge Dawson in the court below, for the reasons there stated. Not only has this Court already determined, on the first appeal, that the manner of computing damages was for the arbitrator and not for the courts, 284 F.2d at 421, but the law is clear that an arbitration award based upon a misinterpretation of law or an insufficiency of supporting facts will not be overturned.² See Wilko v. Swan, 346 U.S. 427, 436-437, 74 S.Ct. 182, 98 L.Ed. 168 (1953); Amicizia Societa Navegazione v. Chilean Nitrate & Iodine Sales Corp., 274 F.2d 805, 808 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 363 U.S. 843, 80 S.Ct. 612, 4 L.Ed.2d 1727 (1960); Commercial Solvents Corp. v. Louisiana Liquid Fertilizer Co., 20 F.R.D. 359, 362 (S.D.N.Y.1957).

Judge Dawson denied Orion's motion under section 9 of the United States Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 9, to confirm that portion of the arbitration award holding Signal liable as guarantor of Orion's contractual obligations. He held, properly we think, that the arbitrator exceeded his powers in determining the obligations of a corporation which was clearly not a party to the arbitration proceeding, and that Signal's motion to vacate the award against it should be granted. See 9 U.S.C. §§ 10(d), 11. A decision whether parties other than those formally signatories to an arbitration clause may have their rights and obligations determined by an arbitrator when that issue has not been submitted to him is not within the province of the arbitrator himself but only of the court. See A/S Ganger Rolf v. Zeeland Transportation Ltd., 191 F.Supp. 359, 363 (S. D.N.Y.1961); Brescia Construction Co. v. Walart Construction Co., 238 App.Div. 45, 263 N.Y.S. 13 (1st Dep't 1933), aff'd, 264 N.Y. 260, 190 N.E. 484, 93 A.L.R. 1148 (1934); cf. Fisser v. International Bank, 282 F.2d 231 (2d Cir., 1960).

Orion agrees that the arbitrator exceeded his powers in determining Signal's liability as guarantor. It also agrees that the question whether Signal should be bound by the arbitration award, although not formally a party to the arbitration clause, is to be determined by the courts and not by the arbitrator. It argues that the District Court, in an action to confirm the award against Eastern Panama, may adjudge Signal liable thereon since Eastern Panama is merely a "shell," while Signal, its "alter ego," is truly responsible for Eastern Panama's obligations. We are cited to Fisser v. International Bank, supra, where this Court held that a parent corporation, if so thoroughly in control of its subsidiary as to be deemed an "alter ego,"...