Interactive Brokers LLC filed an action in the Southern District of New York seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions against an arbitration proceeding initiated by a group of non-signatories to an agreement between...more
In a decision substantively the same as the now-withdrawn opinion entered on January 20, 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit once again affirmed denial of a non-signatory’s motion to compel arbitration. Setty...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit tackled the question of whether non-signatories to an agreement may use state law doctrines to compel arbitration. Holding that the claims were insufficiently “intertwined” to...more
“Read before you sign”, is what we counsel our clients, since we all know that courts will bind one contractually to a signed agreement even if not read. But, what if you never signed the agreement? Can you still be bound by...more
As a general rule, parties cannot be forced to arbitrate a dispute unless they signed a clear and binding agreement to arbitrate. However, a recent decision issued by New York County Commercial Division Judge Barry Ostrager...more
On Monday, June 1, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States addressed the scope of enforceability by non-signatories of arbitration agreements under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral...more
It is a long-standing federal policy that arbitration agreements between parties are favored by courts. This policy holds true even in the case of foreign arbitration agreements, which the U.S. has agreed to recognize and...more
All three defendants were non-signatories to the underlying contract containing the arbitration agreement they sought to enforce. They each contended that they were entitled to enforce the arbitration agreement, despite their...more
Having a client required to arbitrate a case — even though that client never signed off on an arbitration provision — is nothing new. Judge Conrad dealt with that situation late last month in Charlotte Student Housing DST v....more
Charlotte Student Hous. DST v. Choate Constr. Co., 2018 NCBC LEXIS 88 (N.C. Super. Ct. Aug. 24, 2018). This case arose from the construction of a student apartment complex known as Arcadia. The plaintiffs, Arcadia’s...more
Smith Jamison Constr. v. Apac-Atlantic, Inc., 2018 N.C. App. LEXIS 132 (N.C. Ct. App. Feb. 6, 2018) - General contractor APAC-Atlantic (“APAC”) hired Smith Jamison Construction (“Jamison”) as a subcontractor to perform...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that state law governs whether a contract’s arbitration clause is binding on non-signatories. The dispute arises from a consumer protection action filed by the...more
A few months ago, we commented on an aspect of the interaction between the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (WFDL), Wis. Stat. ch. 135, and arbitration, as discussed by the Seventh Circuit in Everett v. Paul Davis Restoration,...more
Everyone knows that you can’t be compelled to arbitrate a dispute unless you’ve agreed to do so. But what everyone knows is sometimes wrong. There are situations in which a person has to arbitrate even though she didn’t sign...more