Watts Petition claims that Watts has standing to pursue a claim in the ancillary proceeding as a third-party beneficiary of the Assignment from USW to D & B. (Watts Petition ¶ 6, claiming that “Petitioner Watts is a third-party beneficiary of the Assignment from USW to his counsel for payment of his legal fees and expenses in this criminal case, and had a property interest in the funds assigned for said purpose.”) Under New York law, “[p]arties asserting third-party beneficiary rights under a contract must establish the existence of a valid and binding contract between other parties.... ” Mendel v. Henry Phipps Plaza W., Inc., 6 N.Y.3d 783, 811 N.Y.S.2d 294, 844 N.E.2d 748, 751 (2006) (citation omitted); see also Highland Capital Mgmt. LP v. Schneider, 607 F.3d 322, 324 (2d Cir.2010) (<HOLDING>). The government here argues that the
holding that plaintiff could not prevail as a thirdparty beneficiary where contract was not valid holding that the governments cooperation with a thirdparty is not sufficient to establish a thirdparty beneficiary relationship recognizing common law cause of action as thirdparty beneficiary holding that the thirdparty beneficiary theory did not apply holding employer thirdparty beneficiary could compel arbitration