Van Faassen - CONSERVATRIX - v Lindberg - United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit No 24-1898 - 14 July 2026

Country

Year

2026

Summary

J. ROBERT VAN FAASSEN, LLM and ELEONORA L. ZETTELER, LLM, in their capacities as insolvency practitioners in the insolvency of Nederlandsche Algemeene Maatschappij van Levensverzekering "CONSERVATRIX" N.V., Petitioners-Appellees,

GREG EVAN LINDBERG; TRIER HOLDING B.V.; NETHERLANDS INSURANCE HOLDINGS, INC.; NIH CAPITAL, LLC, Respondents-Appellants.

In this case, an insolvent Dutch life insurance company seeks to collect on a foreign arbitration award in federal court. The company pursued two routes to that end. It petitioned to confirm the arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act and the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and it also petitioned under the North Carolina Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act to enforce the judgment of a Dutch court confirming the arbitration award. Although the petition was filed beyond the statute of limitations in the Federal Arbitration Act, the district court found that the limitations period was merely "permissive" and confirmed the award under federal law.

Because the three-year statute of limitations in 9 U.S.C. § 207 is mandatory, not permissive, we reverse confirmation of the arbitration award. Nevertheless, we agree with the district court that the Dutch court judgment confirming the award constitutes a foreign court judgment recognizable under the North Carolina Act, so we remand the case to the district court for further proceedings on the company's motion to enforce that judgment under North Carolina law.

Petitioners are the trustees of Nederlandsche Algemeene Maatschappij van Levensverzekering "Conservatrix" N.V., a Dutch life insurance company. Respondents own Conservatrix and agreed to maintain its minimum solvency capital ratio at 135% to ensure that the company could fulfill its obligations to policyholders. When the solvency capital ratio dropped below the minimum threshold, Conservatrix initiated summary arbitral proceedings against Respondents before the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI). Under the rules applicable to NAI summary proceedings, a party to an arbitration agreement can request "immediately enforceable provisional relief" in an urgent case, "regardless of whether arbitral proceedings on the merits are pending." J.A. 309. Conservatrix did just that, asking the arbitrator to order Respondents to replenish the solvency capital ratio as required by the parties' agreement.

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