In a recent legal development, the case of Brayman v. KeyPoint Government Solutions was examined by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The main decision point revolved around dispute resolution procedure – specifically, who should be deploying the decision-making power. Are such matters to be decided by an arbitrator or a judge according to Law.com?
The core issue at play here is ‘arbitrability’. Aptly defined by Belnap v. Iasis Healthcare and Coinbase v. Bielski, this term refers to the determination of whether a dispute is appropriate for arbitration, and is a concept completely separate from the merits of the disputes themselves.
In this context, arbitrability allocation is usually decided by a court unless there is clear and compelling evidence that the involved parties intended for the arbitrator to fulfill this role, as put forth by First Options of Chicago v. Kaplan.
Following a harmonizing analysis of two conflicting clauses, the court concluded that in the Brayman v. KeyPoint Government Solutions case, the responsibility to decide arbitrability should indeed be with the arbitrator. This case will likely provide significant guidance for corporations eager to reinforce their arbitration agreements against similar court overturns.