Incorporation Of AAA Rules “Clearly And Unmistakably” Delegates Questions Of Arbitrability To Arbitrator

Carlton Fields
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In a putative class action for denial of employment benefits brought by security contractors against their hiring firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, the court found that the governing agreements delegated the issue of arbitrability to an arbitrator and compelled arbitration. The contractors contended that the agreements contained no such delegation, but the court disagreed, finding that that the agreements’ incorporation of the AAA rules was sufficient to “clearly and unmistakably” submit arbitrability to an arbitrator. The court also found that the contractors’ challenge to the validity of the AAA clause based on fraud and duress failed “because it does not specifically address the delegation agreement itself as required by” the Supreme Court’s 2010 Rent-A-Center decision. The court further found that the contractors’ challenge based on mistake and unconsionability, “fails on the merits as a matter of law.” The contractors contended that they mistakenly believed that the agreements they signed did not contain arbitration provisions. This type of mistake, however, “about the nature of the contract and its contents—is not a mistake about an ‘existing or past fact’ that could satisfy” the law. As to unconscionability, the contractors argued that the shifting of attorneys’ fees and expenses from the firm to them was unfair, but the court rejected this argument as defective under Concepcion and other precedent. Mercadante v. XE Services, LLC, Case No. 1:11-cv-01044 (USDC D.D.C. Jan. 15, 2015).

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