[June 13, 2011] U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit Case Summaries: June 3, 2011 [Daily Record (Rochester, NY)] Tweet (Daily Record (Rochester, NY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Establishment Clause School Facilities Bronx Household v. Board of Education 07-5291-cv Judges Walker, Leval and Calabresi Background: The Board of Education appealed from an order granting summary judgment to the plaintiff, the Bronx Household of Faith, and that permanently enjoined the board from enforcing a policy that prohibits the use of school facilities by outside groups after hours for religious worship services. Ruling: The second circuit reversed. The court concluded that the challenged rule does not constitute viewpoint discrimination because it does not seek to exclude expressions of religious points of view or of religious devotion. The policy excludes for valid non- discriminatory reasons only a type of activity -- the conduct of worship services. Moreover, the court found that the board sought to avoid violating the Establishment Clause and the exclusion of religious worship services is a reasonable content-based restriction. Jane L. Gordon of Corporation Counsel of the City of New York for the appellants; Jordan W. Lorence of Alliance Defense Fund for the appellees Arbitration Awards Vacate STMicroelectronics NV v. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) 10-3847-cv Judges Sack, Lynch and Preska Background: Credit Suisse, as a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority required all of its customers to submit disputes to FINRA arbitration. When Credit Suisse lost in arbitration to STMicroelectronics, it attacked the arbitrators for improprieties and asked the district court to vacate the award. Specifically, it was argued that one of the arbitrators was not impartial and prone to side with claimants. In addition, Credit Suisse claims the arbitrators disregarded the law in coming to their decision. Ruling: The second circuit affirmed the district court's decision. The court noted that a party that moves to vacate an arbitration award has a high burden of proof. The second circuit rejected Credit Suisse's contention that the one of the arbiters failed to disclose its potential partiality as it provided no case law in support of its contention. With respect to its second claim, the court held that Credit Suisse failed to address where the arbitrators went wrong. Andrew L. Frey of Mayer Brown LLP for the respondent-appellant; Barry Levanstam of Jenner & Block LLP for the petitioner-appellee (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]