Vernon Vu Luong v. Circuit City Stores, Inc.

Vernon Vu Luong appeals dismissal of his petition to vacate an arbitration award in favor of Circuit City Stores, Inc. for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. His petition claims that the arbitrator manifestly disregarded Toyota Motor Mfg., Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 , 122 S.Ct. 681 , 151 L.Ed.2d 615 (2002), in ruling that Circuit City did not violate his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213 (ADA). He argues that the allegation of manifest disregard of federal law raises a federal question. We agree that it does, and that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over Luong’s petition. However, the petition fails because the arbitrator did not manifestly disregard Toyota. Accordingly, we affirm.

I

On August 24, 2000, Luong brought an action for discrimination in violation of the ADA against Circuit City in federal district court. Circuit City moved to compel arbitration based on an arbitration agreement. The district court granted the petition to compel and dismissed the action.

The dispute was arbitrated. The arbitrator found that Luong was neither disabled nor regarded as disabled under Toyota, thus Circuit City did not…