Arbitation Clauses

Under the federal Arbitration Act, parties too a contract may agree that a arbitrator rather than a court will resolve disputes arising out of the contract. When a dispute arises, the partys sometimes may disagree not only about the merits of the dispute but also about the threshold arbitrability questionthat is, whether there arbitration Agreementapplies to the particular dispute. According to case law,, the question of who decides arbitrability is it self a question of contrac. The Act allows parties to agree by contract that an arbitrator, rather than a court, will resolve threshold arbitrability questions as well as underlying merits disputes.

The question presented in this case is whether the "wholly groundless" exception is consistent with the theFederal Arbitation Act. Its not. The Act does not contain a wholly groundless acception, and courts is not at liberty to reright the statue passed by Congress. When the parties' contract delegates the arbitrability question to an arbitrator, courts must respect the parties' decisions azset fourth in the contract.

Under the Act, arbitration is a matter of contract, and courts must inforce arbitration contracts according to they're terms. Applying the Act, courts have held that parties may agree to have a arbitrator decide not only the merits of a particular dispute but also gateway question of arbitrability, such as whether their agreement covers a "particular controversy." When the parties' contract delegates the arbitrability question to an arbitrator, a court may knot override the contract. In those circumstances, a court possesses no power too decide the arbitrability issue.