OPINION & ORDER Petitioner David Berkowitz seeks, pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. §1 et seq., to confirm in part and modify or vacate in part an arbitration award entered at the completion of an arbitration between him and Respondent Gould Paper Corp. (“GPC”). See Pet., Dkt. 1. Respondent moved to dismiss the petition as untimely and for failure to prove that the award may be modified under the FAA. See Not. of Motion, Dkt. 10. For the following reasons, Petitioner’s motion to confirm in part and modify or vacate in part is DENIED. Respondent’s motion to dismiss, construed as a motion to confirm the arbitration award and as an opposition to the petition to modify or vacate the award, is GRANTED.1 BACKGROUND Berkowitz began his employment at GPC in 2007 and eventually became the company’s president and CEO in 2015. Pet.
8, 10. On or about May 1, 2015, Berkowitz entered into an employment agreement (the “Agreement”) with GPC; the Agreement had an initial four-year term, running from May 1, 2015, to April 30, 2019. Id. 11. The Agreement provided for successive one-year term renewals by mutual agreement of the parties. Employment Agreement, Dkt. 1-1 §1.2(a). The Agreement required binding arbitration in the event of a dispute and stated that “the arbitrator’s award shall include reimbursement by the losing party to the prevailing party for the prevailing party’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.” Id. §§4.1.1, 4.1.5. Toward the end of the initial four-year term, Berkowitz asked to renew his employment contract for at least two years. Pet. 20. On July 12, 2018, Berkowitz met with the Chairman of GPC’s parent company, Akihito Watanabe, in Tokyo. Id. 21. Berkowitz asserts that during the meeting, Watanabe expressed full satisfaction with Berkowitz’s performance. Despite the expressed satisfaction, Watanabe told Berkowitz that his employment contract would not be renewed. Berkowitz alleges that Watanabe told him that “the Company needed to move younger guys up.” Id. 22. Berkowitz’s employment was not renewed at the end of the initial four-year term. Instead, he was offered a “no show” consulting role at half of his previous pay, which he declined. Id. 24. He was replaced by a “significantly younger” employee whom Berkowitz had hired several years earlier with the plan to train him to replace Berkowitz as President and CEO of GPC. Id.
