Summary

This may be the final chapter in a dispute that began over twenty years ago.

Following the September 11 attacks, Kellogg Brown & Root International (KBR) contracted with the United States Army to provide logistics support for American troops in Iraq and Kuwait. In the performance of this contract, KBR entered into several subcontracts with First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting W.L.L. (First Kuwaiti), including one to provide trailers for troops to use as living quarters in Iraq. First Kuwaiti incurred significant, unanticipated costs while performing this subcontract, and sought payment for these costs from KBR. That request and other disputes flowing from the subcontract between KBR and First Kuwaiti lay at the heart of this appeal.

In 2009, KBR and First Kuwaiti agreed to resolve these disputes through arbitration before the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). Following a hearing, an arbitral panel (the ICDR Panel) issued a final arbitration award denying First Kuwaiti's claim for payment and resolving all other remaining disputes. First Kuwaiti filed a request for changes to the award pursuant to Article 30, an ICDR rule that permits parties to seek limited review of final arbitration awards. The ICDR Panel rejected First Kuwaiti's request as essentially seeking reconsideration of its final award, thereby exceeding the scope of Article 30.

More than three months after the ICDR Panel issued its final award, First Kuwaiti filed a motion in federal district court seeking to have the award vacated. KBR opposed the motion as untimely and filed a cross-motion to confirm the award. Subsequently, First Kuwaiti filed a motion asking the district court to award it prejudgment interest on two other claims unrelated to the damage to the trailers.

The district court denied First Kuwaiti's motion to vacate as untimely and granted KBR's motion to confirm the ICDR Panel's final award. In a subsequent order, the district court denied First Kuwaiti's request for prejudgment interest. First Kuwaiti appeals from both orders and we affirm.