Moore

MEMORANDUM *

Randolph Moore appeals the district court’s order denying his motion to vacate an arbitration award and granting Merrill Lynch’s motion to confirm the arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. §§ 9 , 10. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

We reject Moore’s contention that this case did not satisfy the amount in controversy requirement for federal diversity subject matter jurisdiction because the arbitration panel awarded Merrill Lynch exactly $75,000. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332 . As this court held in Theis Research, Inc. v. Brown & Bain, decided after the present case was concluded in district court, “[T]he amount at stake in the underlying litigation, not the amount of the arbitration award, is the amount in controversy for the purposes for diversity jurisdiction.” 400 F.3d 659 , 662 (9th Cir.2005). The arbitration award granted $75,000 to Merrill Lynch as well as denied various counterclaims, including Moore’s claim for $2,000,000 in compensatory damages. Because the amount in controversy of the “underlying litigation” exceeded $75,000 and all other requirements for diversity jurisdiction were satisfied, the…