Summary

KATSAS, Circuit Judge: Marseille-Kliniken AG, a Swiss company, obtained an arbitral award against the Republic of Equatorial Guinea arising from a contractual dispute in that country. In the arbitration, the parties contested whether the dispute-resolution clause in the contract required Marseille- Kliniken to exhaust local remedies in Equatoguinean courts before proceeding to international arbitration in Switzerland.

The arbitral panel construed the clause not to require such exhaustion.

Marseille-Kliniken moved to confirm the award in our district court. The court held that the arbitration exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act conferred jurisdiction despite the parties' dispute over the meaning of the arbitration clause. On the merits, the court deferred to the arbitrators' construction of the clause. We agree with the jurisdictional ruling, but we disagree with the court's deferential approach on the merits.