A win for Citigroup Global Markets in arbitration will stand since a federal judge dismissed a challenge to it, finding that her court didn't have jurisdiction.

Judith and Kenneth Goldman had moved to vacate an arbitration award from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, in a case they brought against Citigroup Global Markets and their financial adviser, Barry Guariglia.

But U.S. District Judge Anita Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found that “federal law does not create the cause of action in this case. Despite being a federal law, the Federal Arbitration Act is 'something of an anomaly' in that 'it does not create any independent federal-question jurisdiction.'” The judge quoted from the U.S. Supreme Court's 1983 opinion in Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction.