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International Arbitration Forum

Professional Sport Service Fi Oy v. Puck Agency LLC

Case summary

At a glance

Parties
Professional Sport Service Fi Oy (Finland), petitioner, v. Puck Agency LLC (Delaware; based in Chappaqua, New York), respondent
Case no.
No. 19-CV-5904 (CS)
Court
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Seibel, J.)
Underlying award(s)
Award of 22 November 2018 by sole arbitrator Judge Henrik Fieber, appointed by the Board of the Finland Chamber of Commerce; hearing in Helsinki
Treaty
New York Convention (Arts. IV, V); 9 U.S.C. §§ 201–208
Sector
Ice hockey player representation
Outcome
Petition to confirm granted in part and denied in part: the award was confirmed except the request for USD 650,187.00 in future commissions.
Amount
Sought: USD 973,514.58 plus interest. Confirmed: USD 76,616.00 plus 5% interest from 5 July 2017; USD 171,919.60 plus 5% interest from 5 July 2018; USD 46,326.99 in costs plus Finnish delay interest; USD 11,710.94 for the arbitrator's fees and costs. Refused: USD 650,187.00 in future commissions.

The dispute

PSS, which is active mainly in Finland, and Puck Agency, which is active mainly in North America, both represent ice hockey players. In summer 2012 they entered into a five-year agreement on joint representation. Under it, Puck Agency had to use PSS exclusively to recruit clients in Finland and to share the resulting commissions with PSS. When the agreement expired in 2017, PSS claimed past and future commissions. It began arbitration in Finland on 23 April 2018, and the sole arbitrator ruled in its favour on 22 November 2018. PSS then asked the New York court to confirm the award under the New York Convention. Puck Agency challenged only two items: the USD 11,710.94 reimbursement of arbitrator costs, and the claim for future commissions beyond the 2017–18 season.

Key holdings

  1. The New York Convention governs because the petitioner is incorporated in Finland. A court must confirm the award unless the party resisting it proves one of the Article V grounds, and the court's review is summary and highly deferential. pp. 5–7
  2. PSS is entitled to USD 11,710.94 (EUR 10,266.25). The award required Puck Agency to pay three-quarters of the EUR 41,067.00 arbitration costs, and PSS had overpaid through its advance. No Article V defence was shown, and Puck Agency did not dispute the facts. pp. 10–11
  3. The request for USD 650,187.00 in future commissions is denied. The only evidence that Puck Agency still represents the eight players was a declaration by PSS's manager, Jarmo Kork, which did not show personal knowledge, so the court disregarded that part of it. pp. 11–12
  4. Awarding future commissions would modify the award on evidence the arbitrator never saw. The award gives a right to commissions only "for so long as" the players are represented, but it makes no finding on that point and calculates no amount. pp. 12–13
  5. Even if continued representation had been proved, projecting the 2018–19 commissions unchanged onto the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons was too speculative. p. 13, n. 12

Procedural history

  1. 23 April 2018PSS began arbitration proceedings in Finland.
  2. 23 May 2018The Board of the Finland Chamber of Commerce appointed Judge Henrik Fieber as sole arbitrator.
  3. 22–24 October 2018Arbitration hearing held in Helsinki.
  4. 22 November 2018Award rendered against Puck Agency.
  5. 24 June 2019PSS filed its petition to confirm the award in the Southern District of New York.
  6. 21 August 2019Puck Agency filed its Answer; PSS replied on 5 September 2019.
  7. 8 November 2019Decision and Order: petition granted in part and denied in part.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by
  • Cathy Seibel Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
For the claimant
Bodner Law PLLC · SM Law
For the respondent
Law Offices of Joseph I. Orlian, PC

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Keywords

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.

Case ID
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-CV-5904 (CS)
Country
Claimant
Professional Sport Service Fi Oy
Respondent
Puck Agency LLC
Section

Court: United States, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Date of decision: 08 November 2019
Case number: 19-CV-5904 (CS)
New York Convention provisions: IV | IV(1) | V | V(1)
Source: New York Convention case law case database.