Who decides whether parties to an arbitration agreement have to arbitrate their dispute? If there’s a delegation clause, it’ll be the arbitrator—unless a party specifically challenges the delegation clause. The Sixth Circuit issued a 2-1 decision in In re: StockX Customer Data Security Breach Litigation emphasizing this point and declining to rule on an arbitration … Continue Reading
Yesterday’s published decision in Hale v. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC established the law of the circuit on a nifty issue of subject matter jurisdiction in the context of arbitration. Where a plaintiff from one state has initiated arbitration against a defendant from another state, seeking millions, but has then received an arbitral award of … Continue Reading
Parties may now seek discovery from district courts within the Sixth Circuit for use in foreign private arbitrations. In Abdul Latif Jameel Transportation Company v. FedEx, a unanimous panel held that the plain meaning of the phrase “foreign or international tribunal” included non-governmental tribunals. The decision addresses an important foreign-discovery provision that, according to some … Continue Reading
Yesterday, in Linglong Americas, Inc. v. Horizon Tire, Inc., a unanimous panel of the Sixth Circuit rejected a tire manufacturer’s attempt to compel arbitration of claims in China under a contract that had already expired. The manufacturer and its distributor had a “Collaboration Agreement” with an arbitration clause. The agreement expired in 2011 and was … Continue Reading
Last week, the Sixth Circuit handed down its decision in Supplemental Benefit Committee v. Navistar International Corp., an appeal by a corporation seeking to compel arbitration in an ongoing dispute over employee benefits. Subjecting the disputed contractual issues to arbitration and holding that Navistar had not waived arbitration by participating in litigation, the Sixth Circuit … Continue Reading
On January 16, the Sixth Circuit issued a decision in an appeal by Chrysler dealerships that were closed in the process of Chrysler’s bankruptcy in 2009 but that met with success in federally-mandated arbitration aimed at reinstating and reopening those dealerships. The conflict underlying the case started when Chrysler closed 789 dealerships during its 2009 … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit has been busy with arbitration cases in the past year, as we have covered here and here, largely trending in favor of arbitration. Last week, the Circuit issued an opinion in another arbitration case, Milan Express v. Applied Underwriters, holding that the enforceability of an arbitration clause is itself a matter for arbitration. … Continue Reading
Siding with the Fifth, Ninth and Second (unpublished) Circuits in a longstanding circuit split, the Sixth Circuit in United States ex rel. Paige v. BAE Sys. Tech. recently distinguished between disputes “arising under” and “related to” a contract for arbitration purposes. The Sixth Circuit held that an arbitration clause mandating arbitration of “any dispute arising from this Agreement” … Continue Reading
Against a recent spate of proarbitration decisions reported on here, here and here, the Sixth Circuit has now bucked that trend, refusing to apply retroactively an agreement to arbitrate to bar pending claims where the language used in the arbitration agreement indicates an intent to “head off future lawsuits, not to cut off existing ones.” … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit earlier this week decided an issue recently left open by the United States Supreme Court as to whether the Court or an arbitrator is to decide whether classwide arbitration is available under an arbitration clause. In Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Crockett, Case No. 12-3574 (Nov. 5, 2013) (pdf), the Court examined whether … Continue Reading
In Johnson Associates Corp. v. HL Operating Corp., Case No. 10-6468, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s holding that the defendant waived its right to arbitrate. Plaintiffs sued HL Operating Corporation (“Hartmann”) over a dispute arising from their sourcing agreement. The sourcing agreement contained an arbitration clause, but Hartmann did not raise the issue … Continue Reading
In the aftermath of the 2009 bankruptcies of Chrysler LLC (“Old Chrysler”) and General Motors Corporation (“Old GM”), Congress enacted Section 747 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-117 (“Section 747”). Section 747 grants certain arbitration rights to dealerships that had their sales and services agreements rejected or terminated in connection … Continue Reading
This appeal stems from the Eastern District of Kentucky’s order granting Morgan Keegan & Company Inc.’s motion for preliminary injunction to enjoin Robert Ras from compelling arbitration before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). Ras, the investor, filed a Statement of Claim before FINRA, which is a self-regulatory organization under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit’s recent opinion on federal labor arbitration law reiterates the deference given to arbitrators of labor disputes by the Supreme Court and Sixth Circuit precedent. In Titan Tire Corporation of Bryan v. United Steelworkers of America, Local 890, Case No. 09-4460, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the Northern District of Ohio’s refusal to vacate … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Sixth Circuit reversed a decision compelling arbitration in an employment dispute, Hergenreder v. Bickford Senior Living Group, LLC. A foundational principle of the FAA is consent to arbitration, and in this case, the Sixth Circuit could not find evidence of that consent. The employee had received a copy of the employment handbook, which … Continue Reading
The parties in Turi v. Main Street Adoption Servs. (pdf), Case No. 09-2229, will be battling it out in arbitration and federal court, due to a very narrow arbitration clause. The Court’s detailed analysis of whether (and which) of the numerous claims were subject to arbitration means that many of the more high-profile claims will be litigated in open court. … Continue Reading
Last week, a divided Sixth Circuit panel in Dealer Computer Services, Inc. v. Dub Herring Ford, et al. (6th Cir., Case No. 09-1848, Oct. 14, 2010) (PDF) (“DCS II”), held that the three-prong ripeness inquiry previously set forth by the Sixth Circuit in a closely related earlier ruling in the same case, Dealer Computer Services, Inc. v. Dub Herring … Continue Reading
The federal courts of appeals and other courts have been split on whether the presumption favoring arbitrability applies to questions about who may enforce (or is bound by) an agreement to arbitrate. Some courts treat all such questions as contract formation issues to which the presumption does not apply. Others treat such questions as matters … Continue Reading
In a 2-1 decision handed down on August 12, the Sixth Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling that an arbitrator should decide whether 93 labor grievances against AK Steel Corporation must be resolved through arbitration. What made this a difficult case was that there were two contracts involved: (1) a “2007 Agreement” that included a grievance and arbitration procedure … Continue Reading
