On April 24, 2025, the First Department issued a decision in Matter of Wiener v. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, 2025 NY Slip Op. 02432, holding that parties that parties that benefitted from an agreement were bound by its arbitration provision, explaining:
Respondent sustained its burden of demonstrating that nonsignatories to an engagement letter containing an arbitration clause knowingly exploited the benefits of the engagement letter and received benefits flowing directly from it sufficient to compel the nonsignatories to arbitrate. The letter named petitioner The Pinnacle Group Inc. as the client, and petitioner Joel Wiener signed the letter in his capacity as its CEO. However, the parties do not dispute that they intended for the engagement letter to govern respondent’s legal representation of Wiener and petitioner Pinnacle Group NY, LLC in a class action filed in the Southern District of New York. The parties also do not dispute that for two years, respondent represented Wiener individually and Pinnacle Group NY, LLC in the underlying matter, and that Wiener personally participated in that representation.
The benefits to Wiener and Pinnacle Group NY, LLC — namely, respondent’s representation of them — can be traced directly to the agreement containing the arbitration clause and were specifically contemplated by the parties to the engagement letter. Accordingly, Wiener and Pinnacle Group NY, LLC are estopped from asserting that they are not bound by the letter’s arbitration clause.
(Internal citations omitted).