AVIENT CORPORATION v. WESTLAKE VINYLS, INC. - Articles

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AVIENT CORPORATION v. WESTLAKE VINYLS, INC.

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jul 29, 2025

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Jessica L. Ellsworth, HOGAN LOVELLS US LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. David A. Super, BRACEWELL LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Attorneys 2: ON BRIEF: Jessica L. Ellsworth, Michael J. West, J. Andrew Mackenzie, HOGAN LOVELLS US LLP, Washington, D.C., Davina Pujari, WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE AND DORR LLP, San Francisco, California, Daniel S. Volchok, Joseph M. Meyer, WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE AND DORR LLP, Washington, D.C., Mark S. Riddle, Melissa Norman Bork, DENTONS BINGHAM GREENEBAUM LLP, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellant.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: David A. Super, Britt Cass Steckman, BRACEWELL LLP, Washington, D.C., Adam T. Goebel, Angela S. Fetcher, Adam C. Reeves, STOLL KEENON OGDEN PLLC, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellee.

Judge(s): CLAY, KETHLEDGE, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky at Paducah

KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. This case involves a settlement agreement that requires (as relevant here) Avient Corporation and Westlake Vinyls, Inc. to arbitrate certain disputes about the allocation of cleanup costs at a Superfund site in Kentucky. Avient has twice demanded arbitration under the agreement. But now it opposes Westlake’s demand for arbitration, on the ground, it says, that the agreement’s arbitration provisions have been invalid all along. The district court granted summary judgment to Westlake, holding that Avient had waived its right to raise that argument. We affirm on other grounds.

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