On October 29, 2026, the First Department issued a decision in Matter of Peers Business Inc. v. Navios S. Am. Logistics Inc., 2026 NY Slip Op. 06387, holding that a party waives the right to object to arbitration by participating in it, explaining:
Petitioner Peers Business Inc. cannot avail itself of CPLR 7503(b) because it has participated in the arbitration it seeks to stay by taking part in an administrative conference with the American Arbitration Association, appointing its arbitrator, and filing an answer.
Even if Peers Business participated in the arbitration under protest, it still could not avoid arbitration because a party must seek judicial relief even if it believes that its request for such an interim stay will result in summary denial. Here, a federal court advised Peers Business in December 2025 that it was required to move to stay the arbitration. Yet, Peers Business did not do so until April 2026, by which time it had already participated in the arbitration proceedings. Its belief that respondents-appellants had improperly removed this case to federal court did not prevent it from asking that court to stay the arbitration in its November 2025 and April 2026 letters.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).