Westmoreland v. High Point Healthcare, Inc. The trial court improperly denied a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration since the arbitration agreement was not procedurally or substantively unconscionable.

Tagged with: Arbitration Negligence power of attorney

Peabody Holding Co. LLC v. United Mine Workers of America, Int’l Union The 4th Circuit upholds the district court order requiring the parties to arbitrate the United Mine Workers’ limited job-preference agreement with a coal company, as the appellate court concludes the coal company has not rebutted the ordinary presumption in favor of arbitrability.

Tagged with: Arbitration Labor & Employment

D&B Swine Farms, Inc. v. Murphy-Brown, L.L.C. In accordance with Stern v. Marshall, 564 U.S. ___, 131 S. Ct. 2594 (2011), the debtor’s adversary proceeding — based on state common law claims — is a non-core proceeding. Since two of the three contracts at issue include arbitration clauses, the claims for breach of those two contracts must be submitted to arbitration. All further proceedings in this case are stayed pending the conclusion of arbitration.

Tagged with: Arbitration Bankruptcy Civil Practice Contract jurisdiction

Capps v. Blondeau An investment firm’s practice was to scan the signature page of an investor’s contract and destroy the original after 90 days. A sample, or specimen, contract was also kept on file. Given the differences between the specimen contract and the scanned signature page from plaintiff’s contract, the trial court could find that there was no duplicate of plaintiff’s contract available. We affirm the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.

Tagged with: Arbitration

Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Reynolds Construction Co. Even though the parties’ contracts require the parties to engage in mediation before either arbitration or legal proceedings, this does not give plaintiff the choice to forgo arbitration. The contracts’ arbitration clauses are mandatory. The mediation clause can be interpreted to mean that, if the parties agree to waive arbitration, they still must go to mediation before they go to court. We reverse the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.

Tagged with: Arbitration Contract

In re: Fifth Third Bank, N.A. - Village of Penland Litigation A doctor, who was compelled to arbitrate his claims against two banks after he failed to honor his personal guarantee, failed to show that the award should be vacated on the grounds that the arbitrator’s decision rested on a manifest disregard of the law.

Tagged with: Arbitration Real Property

Shearline Boatworks, LLC v. Trost Even though it was plaintiff who initiated litigation, plaintiff did not unreasonably delay its request for arbitration, it did not unreasonably avail itself of trial-oriented activity, and arbitration would not prejudice defendant. The parties will be held to their agreement to arbitrate disputes arising under their contracts. Plaintiff’s motion to stay proceedings and to compel arbitration is granted.

Tagged with: Arbitration motion to compel

Fitta v. Burke Where plaintiff essentially challenges the credibility of the evidence and the weight given to the evidence by the arbitrators, such a challenge is not sufficient to show misconduct for purposes of setting aside an arbitration award. We affirm the trial court’s denial of plaintiff’s motions to vacate the arbitration award and to compel depositions of the arbitrators.

Tagged with: Arbitration insufficient showing

Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC v. Freeman A debtor’s challenge to an arbitration award fails since: (1) he failed to challenge the award within the three-month time period prescribed by 9 U.S.C. §12; and (2) equitable tolling does not apply because he failed to file a motion to vacate the arbitration award.

Tagged with: Arbitration Credit Card Agreement Timeliness

Goodwin v. Century Care of Cherryville, Inc. There were several ways for defense counsel to present the purported arbitration agreement to the trial judge at the hearing on defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. Although defense counsel merely handed an unauthenticated copy of the agreement to the judge during the hearing, the agreement had been provided to plaintiff in a verified discovery response, and the judge and both counsel discussed the details of the agreement.

Tagged with: Arbitration Contract Hearing motion to compel