PHILADELPHIA – A trustee of the Lincoln Charitable Trust is seeking to confirm an arbitration award under the terms of the Federal Arbitration Act against the Republican National Committee, for its alleged involvement in voter suppression efforts – an award the RNC claims is a “sham” and has been denied in five other courts.
The Hon. Peter J. Wirs filed a motion to confirm said arbitration award and an application for authorization of attorneys fees for receiver in aid of arbitration on Sept. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In his petition, Wirs states that he commenced arbitration to resolve a dispute of the Lincoln Charitable Trust, a civil rights law group, between two of its beneficiaries, the Democratic and Republican national committees, and issued an award on June 6, 2018.
“RNC failed to timely file a motion to vacate or modify the award on or before Sept. 4, 2018, as required under the Federal Arbitration Act 9 U.S.C. Section 12,” Wirs’ petition said.
As a result, Wirs filed a motion to confirm the award in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Feb. 5 – however, the Bankruptcy Court abstained and the case was dismissed on Sept. 3, so that the instant motion could be refiled in the present federal court.
Wirs accused the RNC of falsely imposing jurisdictional objections under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine (which instructs that federal courts should not review state court decisions unless Congress directed them to do so) and delay tactics, as all the while it “continues to inflict immediate and irreparable injury on all American voters by the RNC’s inexcusable, repugnant attack abridging voters’ First Amendment rights of political association.”
Upon confirmation of the award, Wirs is seeking authorization to retain national counsel Pamela A. Mann and Michael Shapiro of Carter Ledyard & Milburn as Tax Counsel and Special Counsel, respectively, for a $100,000 monthly retainer; Thomas G. Wilkinson of Cozen O’Connor as Special Counsel for a $25,000 monthly retainer; and J. Matthew Wolfe as Chief Counsel for a $150,000 annual salary – plus $50,000 for himself and Wolfe for travel, accommodation and out-of-pocket expenses.
In a response also dated Sept. 6, the RNC rejected the entire petition and called the arbitration award in question a “fake.”
“The history of Peter Wirs’ attempts to confirm a sham arbitration award against the RNC is long and tortured, spanning more than five years and involving both state and federal courts, all issuing orders denying his petitions to confirm his bogus awards,” the RNC’s reply read.
“Wirs now asks this Court to confirm the same arbitration award that all levels of Pennsylvania courts, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania have already refused to confirm.”
The RNC said that over the past five years, the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, Superior Court of Pennsylvania and Supreme Court of Pennsylvania all hosted this same action, and all denied the relief Wirs sought.
So did the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, according to the RNC.
“Having been thwarted once again in his attempts to confirm his self-serving, fake arbitration award, Wirs now turns to this Court seeking the relief he has been denied by five prior courts. Here, Wirs asks this Court to confirm the same arbitration award that the Bankruptcy Court would have rejected for lack of standing if Wirs had not voluntarily withdrawn it,” the RNC’s opposition brief read.
The RNC contests that arbitration award suffers from the same defects noted by the Pennsylvania courts and the D.C. District Court: Lack of jurisdiction over the RNC; lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine; and barring by both the doctrine of res judicata and by the Full Faith and Credit Act.
“This Court, therefore, must dismiss with prejudice Wirs’ instant motion as a result of issue preclusion. A court of competent jurisdiction has already decided that Wirs’ sham of an arbitration forum lacked jurisdiction over the RNC, and thus lacked the ability to enter any type of arbitration award against the RNC,” the opposition brief read, in part.
“Adding insult to injury, Wirs repeated the same errors with his revamped arbitration award – he failed to properly serve the RNC, the final nail in the coffin since he has never adequately obtained personal jurisdiction over RNC in any event.”
The RNC is seeking the dismissal of Wirs’ motion to confirm arbitration award because of a lack of timeliness, a lack of subject matter jurisdiction to entertain Wirs’ petition under 28 U.S.C.A. Section 1257 and the Rooker-Feldman doctrine; the doctrine of res judicata; failing to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; Wirs not establishing personal jurisdiction over the RNC and Wirs failing to establish that he properly effectuated service of process.
The RNC is represented by Shawn M. Rodgers of Goldstein Law Partners, in Hatfield.
Movant Wirs is also representing himself.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:19-cv-04072
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com