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University of Miami Law Review

Topic/Sub-heading

Arbitration in the Eleventh Circuit

Abstract

The McCarran-Ferguson Act was enacted in 1945 to safeguard the rights of the states to regulate the business of insurance. It provides that acts of Congress not specifically related to the business of insurance are superseded by state laws that regulate the business of insurance. In 1970, the United States ratified the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention). Congress enacted Chapter 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act to implement the New York Convention. The New York Convention requires courts to recognize and enforce both private agreements to arbitrate and arbitration awards made in other contracting states. Because the McCarran-Ferguson Act, on the one hand, provides that general federal laws not related to the business of insurance are superseded by state insurance laws, and the New York Convention, on the other hand, obligates courts to recognize and enforce private arbitration agreements and arbitral awards, courts have struggled with whether the New York Convention preempts state insurance laws that prohibit arbitration of insurance disputes. Indeed, several states have enacted legislation prohibiting clauses in insurance contracts divesting the state courts of jurisdiction, while many others have excluded insurance contracts from their corresponding arbitration codes. We address this conflict between the McCarran-Ferguson Act and the New York Convention and, specifically, analyze how courts within the Eleventh Circuit have decided the issue.

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