ARBITRATION COMPELLED DESPITE CLAIM OF INVALIDITY
In response to Plaintiff Gordon Hook’s action to enjoin UBS from enforcing a promissory note it required Hook to execute after he commenced his employment at UBS, the company moved to compel arbitration and for dismissal or stay pending completion of arbitration. Hook, for his part, moved for a preliminary injunction to enjoin UBS from enforcing the arbitration provisions of the promissory note and from proceeding with the pending arbitration before FINRA. The US District Court for the District of Connecticut granted UBS’s motion to compel arbitration and further dismissed the action pending arbitration. The Court found specifically that the arbitration provision was valid and that it required that all challenges to the validity of the promissory note (and the arbitration provision itself) must be determined by arbitrators. This included all of Hook’s claims of fraudulent inducement, conversion, and statutory theft. Hook’s motion for an injunction was denied, as he failed to demonstrate the likelihood of irreparable harm. Accordingly, the Court closed the case. Hook v. UBS Fin. Servs., Case No. 10-950 (USDC D. Conn. May 4, 2011).
This post written by John Black.
