In late May, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana decided one of the few reported cases addressing whether an arbitration panel’s erroneous discovery orders may result in the vacatur of an award. This note discusses that decision, and the court’s discussion of the impact of discovery rulings upon the enforceability of arbitral awards. Pershing LLC v. Kiebach et al (Pershing), No. 2:2014 cv 02549 - Document 167 (E.D. La. 2017).
Pershing arose out of the Stanford Ponzi scheme litigation. At about the same time that the Madoff Ponzi scheme was occurring, Robert Allen Stanford was operating a smaller ($7 billion) Ponzi scheme in Louisiana. Like the Madoff scheme, the Stanford scheme unraveled and, like Madoff, Stanford was convicted. He was sentenced to 110 years in prison.