France v. Bernstein, ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. 2022). As Judge Jordan said in his opinion for the Third Circuit today, “[i]t’s a steep climb to vacate an arbitration award.” Under the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. 10(a) (“FAA”), there are only four grounds for doing so: “(1) where the award was procured by corruption, fraud, or undue means; (2) where there was evident partiality or corruption in the arbitrators, or either of them; (3) where the arbitrators were guilty of misconduct in refusing to postpone the hearing, upon sufficient cause shown, or in...

In the recent period, the Third Circuit has published a small number of opinions. Here are summaries of some of those decisions: Mallet and Company Inc. v. Lacayo, 16 F.4th 364 (3d Cir. 2021). This was a trade secret and unfair competition case. The specific subject was “baking release agents,” which are “lubricants that allow baked goods to readily separate from the containers in which they are made,” according to Judge Jordan’s opinion for the panel. Employees of plaintiff left that company to join defendants, allegedly taking with them trade secrets related...

Oakwood Laboratories, LLC v. Thanoo, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2021).  Judge Jordan wrote this opinion. This was a trade secret case that also involved other claims. “More than two years and four iterations of its complaint later, Oakwood was unable to get past the pleading stage of litigation. The District Court dismissed each version of the complaint for failure to state a claim.” Oakwood appealed, and the Third Circuit reversed. Judge Jordan explained that review of a ruling granting a motion to dismiss proceeds in three steps. First, the court notes the elements that a plaintiff...