International Label Service, Inc. v. Engineered Data Products, Inc. , 15 F. App'x 717 ( 2001 )

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
JUL 27 2001
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
INTERNATIONAL LABEL
SERVICE, INC.; SARD, INC.,
Petitioners-Appellants,
v. No. 00-1425
(D.C. No. 99-D-2161)
ENGINEERED DATA PRODUCTS, (D. Colo.)
INC.,
Respondent-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before HENRY , ANDERSON , and MURPHY , Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Petitioners International Label Service, Inc. and SARD, Inc. appeal the
district court’s dismissal of their petition for confirmation of an arbitration award
for lack of jurisdiction. We affirm.
This dispute arises out of the settlement of patent litigation between
petitioners and respondent Engineered Data Products, Inc. In April 1997, the
parties entered into a settlement agreement which, inter alia, required petitioners
to pay royalties to respondent. The agreement required the parties to arbitrate
disputes arising out of the settlement agreement, and contained a provision
requiring the arbitrator to decide the dispute within 210 days. The parties
disagree on the effect of this 210-day provision.
In 1998, petitioners’ royalty payments were not made in a timely fashion,
and respondent sought to terminate the settlement agreement, to obtain an
accounting, and to obtain an injunction against petitioners. The matter was
submitted to arbitration, and an arbitrator was appointed on December 21, 1998.
On April 21, 1999, the parties stipulated that the arbitrator would proceed with
the determination of whether there was a basis to terminate the agreement, but
that any other issues might be decided later. On May 28, 1999, the arbitrator
issued an order stating that pursuant to this stipulated order, the parties had
agreed to waive the 210-day limit for the second portion of the proceeding.
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On July 19, 1999, the arbitrator issued a decision stating that there had
been no material breach of the settlement contract and thus respondent was not
entitled to terminate the agreement. The decision, which was issued on the 210th
day after the arbitrator’s appointment, relied heavily on the absence of evidence
showing when petitioners had received notice of the breach. On July 29, 1999,
respondent filed for reconsideration regarding the notice issue, attaching a
certified letter receipt which it alleged was signed by petitioners’ agent. On
October 22, 1999, the arbitrator granted the motion, stayed his initial decision,
and ordered the parties to contact his office to establish the procedures to be used
to determine the notice issue. The parties conducted discovery on the receipt
issue until January 2000, participated in a hearing before the arbitrator in late
January or early February, and filed briefs on the issue in February 2000.
Meanwhile, on November 9, 1999, petitioners filed a petition for
confirmation of the initial arbitration award, arguing that after the 210-day limit
expired the arbitrator lacked authority to stay the initial decision. Respondent
objected, arguing that the arbitration had not yet been completed, and that
therefore the district court lacked jurisdiction. After a hearing, the district court
dismissed the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, holding that because
the arbitrator stayed his initial decision, there was no final award to review.
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Petitioners appealed, and respondents moved to dismiss the appeal for lack
of jurisdiction. The parties have now briefed both the issue of this court’s
jurisdiction over the appeal, and the district court’s jurisdiction over the
confirmation petition.
We begin with our own jurisdiction, as we are required to do. Bender v.
Williamsport Area Sch. Dist. , 475 U.S. 534, 541 (1986) (holding “every federal
appellate court has a special obligation to satisfy itself . . . of its own
jurisdiction”) (quotation omitted). Our jurisdiction over petitioners’ appeal stems
from 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Robinson v. Union Pac. R.R. , 245 F.3d 1188, 1190
(10th Cir. 2001). If the district court was correct in concluding that it lacked
subject matter jurisdiction, our appellate jurisdiction is limited to reviewing that
decision and does not extend to a review of the merits. Bender , 475 U.S. at 541.
We review the district court’s dismissal de novo . U.S. West, Inc. v. Tristani ,
182 F.3d 1202, 1206 (10th Cir. 1999).
The question of a district court’s jurisdiction to confirm an arbitration
award is a two-step inquiry. First, because the Federal Arbitration Act “does not
create any independent federal-question jurisdiction,” the party seeking
confirmation must demonstrate a jurisdictional basis under either 28 U.S.C.
§ 1331 (federal question) or § 1332 (diversity). P&P Indus., Inc. v. Sutter Corp. ,
179 F.3d 861, 866 (10th Cir. 1999) (quotation omitted). Second, it must be
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shown that the parties agreed, either explicitly or implicitly, that the arbitration
award would be subject to judicial confirmation. Id. In addition, the arbitration
award sought to be confirmed must be final. See United Steelworkers of Am. v.
Ideal Cement Co. , 762 F.2d 837, 842 (10th Cir. 1985).
The district court concluded that because the arbitrator stayed his initial
decision, the July 19, 1999 award was not final. Petitioners argue that because
the arbitrator lacked jurisdiction to stay his decision after the 210-day period
expired, the initial decision was final. Petitioners have not, however, provided us
with a copy of the settlement agreement containing the 210-day limitation, and
therefore we cannot determine the effect of the period’s expiration. As we are
required to give an arbitrator’s procedural decisions great deference, id. at 841,
and the arbitrator’s decision is not final on its face, we conclude the district court
did not err in holding that it lacked jurisdiction over the confirmation petition.
Even if we were to treat the arbitrator’s initial decision as final, petitioners
have not demonstrated that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over
their case. The confirmation petition did not demonstrate that jurisdiction might
be premised either on diversity or on the existence of a federal question. As the
enforcement of a settlement agreement is no more than a contract action, it does
not, in itself, provide a federal question upon which jurisdiction may be based.
See Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am. , 511 U.S. 375, 381-82 (1994).
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Petitioners also have not shown an agreement by the parties to submit the
arbitration award for judicial confirmation. P&P Indus., Inc. , 179 F.3d at 866.
The judgment of the United States District Court for the District of
Colorado is AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
Michael R. Murphy
Circuit Judge
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