The US Supreme Court recently vacated a decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, holding that the national policy favoring arbitration found in the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and supporting case law, a policy which applies to both state and Federal courts, required that an arbitrator decide in the first instance whether a non-compete clause in a commercial contract was valid. Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard (Nov. 26, 2012)
The Court acknowledged that questions regarding the validity of an arbitration clause itself may be decided by a court, but questions regarding the validity of a contract which contains an arbitration clause for disputes arising thereunder are to be resolved by an arbitrator in the first instance.
Firefox recommends the PDF Plugin for Mac OS X for viewing PDF documents in your browser.
We can also show you Legal Updates using the Google Viewer; however, you will need to be logged into Google Docs to view them.
Please choose one of the above to proceed!
LOADING PDF: If there are any problems, click here to download the file.
Topics: Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Federal Arbitration Act, Non-Compete Agreements, SCOTUS
Published In:
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Updates, Business Torts Updates, Civil Procedure Updates, Commercial Law & Contracts Updates, Communications & Media Law Updates
DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
© Robert Freedman - Partner at Tharpe & Howell, LLP | Attorney Advertising
