Seattle Judge Denies ex-Amazon Seller’s Motion to Vacate Arbitration Award

U.S. District Judge Tana Lin for Western Washington in Seattle denied the motion of former Amazon third-party seller Shenzhen Yunzhongge Technology Co. to vacate an August 2023 arbitration award in Amazon’s favor and granted Amazon’s motion to confirm that award, said the judge’s signed order Wednesday (docket 2:23-cv-01693). Amazon deactivated Yunzhongge’s seller account in April 2020 and seized more than $300,000 in sales proceeds that the arbitrator let Amazon keep after it found the seller violated Amazon’s rules against the restricted sale of disposable face masks and hand sanitizer in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge found that arbitrator Sasha Philip didn’t “manifestly disregard the law” in her decision, said the order. Moreover, the judge found that enforcement of the arbitration award isn’t “in violation of public policy,” or that the award was “irrational,” it said.