Arbitration Award Confirmed, Motion To Dismiss Denied

Posted: April 8, 2026 / Categories Arbitration, Motion to Confirm

Arbitration Award Confirmed, Motion To Dismiss Denied

On March 3, 2026, Justice Melissa A. Crane granted plaintiff/petitioner’s motion to confirm an arbitration award and denied defendant/respondents’ motion to dismiss for lack of standing. The case is RGA Gigi LLC v. Wieder and Friedman Enterprises Inc., Index No. 659568/2025.

Defendants did not take issue with the award itself, but challenged RGA Gigi LLC’s standing because the award had been rendered in favor of nonparties Explorefirst LLC and Whele LLC. This argument failed because the documentary evidence conclusively showed, and “Respondents do not, because they cannot, contest”, that RGA was the successor to Explorefirst LLC and Whele LLC. Slip op., p. 2.

Respondents sought to estop RGA from claiming successor status because its predecessor entities had failed to update papers they had filed on April 10, 2025, in unsuccessfully opposing dismissal, for lack of diversity jurisdiction, of a federal action they had filed enforce the award, to reflect the predecessor’s April 30, 2025 merger with RGA. This was insufficient to defeat RGA’s standing:

As is obvious from the pendency of this case, respondents were successful on obtaining dismissal for lack of diversity, so the statements of RGA’s predecessor entities in the federal papers could not have affected the federal court’s diversity analysis, making this estoppel argument completely irrelevant.

Moreover, the federal court only analyzed diversity jurisdiction by way of motion that respondents filed on April 10, 2025. It never passed on the merits. Therefore, there is no estoppel with respect to the standing issues before this court now.

Respondents’ challenge to standing under NY LLC Law § 808, based on the contention that RGA was doing business in New York without the required registration, also failed:

Respondents contend that “RGA Gigi ships to New York customers, that it has hired Amazon to process and ship all such orders, and that Amazon uses New York fulfillment centers to handle those orders, RGA Gigi is doing business in New York. By maintaining physical inventory in New York warehouses and contracting with an agent (Amazon) to package and ship that inventory from within the state, RGA Gigi is not merely engaged in interstate commerce; it is conducting local business.”

However, cases are legion that these activities are not sufficient to establish “doing business” such that registration is required . . ..

Slip op., p. 3 (collected cases omitted.)

Contact the Commercial Division Blog Committee at commercialdivisionblog@schlamstone.com if you or a client have questions concerning estoppel or motions to compel arbitration awards.