## Facts

- Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping Authority (PRMSA) owned and operated the S.S. Puerto Rico in roll-on/roll-off cargo service.
- Star Lines Ltd. served as PRMSA’s agent under a May 18, 1976 agreement to service and book cargo and to collect freight payments from shippers.
- PRMSA terminated the agency agreement in February 1977, and multiple contract disputes followed.
- The contract required binding arbitration in New York under the Society of Maritime Arbitrators’ rules.
- In arbitration, PRMSA asserted 22 claims and Star Lines asserted 10 cross-claims.
- On February 1, 1978, the arbitrators issued an interim/partial award resolving only some disputes, including a claim concerning freight monies collected (or to be collected) by Star Lines.
- On the freight-monies claim, Star Lines admitted liability up to a certain amount but disputed the total; the panel awarded PRMSA at least the admitted amount and ordered Star Lines to pay over freight monies as they came into its possession.
- PRMSA petitioned to confirm the interim award under FAA § 9; Star Lines cross-moved to vacate in whole or part under FAA § 10(d).

## Issues

1. Whether an interim/partial arbitration award that finally resolves a discrete claim (or separable portion of a claim) is confirmable under FAA § 9 even though other disputes and further quantification remain pending in arbitration.
2. Whether the award should be vacated under FAA § 10(d) because the arbitrators exceeded their powers or failed to make a “mutual, final, and definite” award.

## Decision

- The court granted PRMSA’s petition in part and denied it in part, confirming the arbitration award in part and vacating it in part.
- The court confirmed the freight-monies portion to the extent it finally determined liability and fixed a determinate amount at least equal to Star Lines’ admitted liability, and required payment of freight monies received.
- The court declined to confirm (and vacated) portions of the award that were not yet final and definite because they left matters open for later arbitral resolution.

## Legal Principles

- Under FAA § 9, a court must confirm an arbitration award unless a statutory ground for vacatur, modification, or correction is shown.
- FAA § 10(d) permits vacatur only if arbitrators exceeded their powers or so imperfectly executed them that no “mutual, final, and definite” award was made.
- In reviewing commercial arbitration awards, courts apply a highly deferential standard; vacatur is limited to awards that are irrational or in manifest disregard of the law.
- An award may be confirmable even if labeled “interim” or “partial” when it finally disposes of an independent claim or a separable portion of the dispute; finality is assessed functionally as to the issue presented for confirmation.
- Courts will not treat as confirmed those portions of an award that are expressly tentative, indeterminate, or reserved for future arbitral determination.

## Conclusion

The court enforced the interim arbitration ruling to the extent it conclusively resolved a separable freight-monies dispute and ordered payment of a determinate amount, while vacating only those parts that lacked the required finality and definiteness under the Federal Arbitration Act.


Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping Auth. v. Star Lines Ltd., 454 F. Supp. 368 (S.D.N.Y. 1978)