The Second Circuit Held That the New York Convention Preempts State Anti-Arbitration Insurance Laws

In a significant win for international insurers, the Second Circuit held in Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s v. 3131 Veterans Blvd LLC & Mpire Properties LLC that Article II(3) of the New York Convention is self-executing and preempts Louisiana’s state law barring arbitration of insurance disputes. The decision abrogates the Second Circuit’s 1995 precedent in Stephens v. American Int’l Insurance Co ., resolving a long-standing outlier view and narrowing a key federal circuit split.