SUPREME COURT LETS NONSIGNERS HAVE THEIR ARBITRATION STAY SAY

摘要

The last of three U.S. Supreme Court 2008-2009 term cases was handed down last month, and it resulted in another highly particularized decision focusing on an issue that won't figure in many practice changes, nor add huge chapters to treatises.rnBut if the potential exists for nonparty intervention in an arbitration contract, then attorneys' client analysis will beginrnat the new ruling interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act.rnIn a 6-3 opinion written by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Arthur Andersen LLP v. Carlisle, No. 08-146 (May 4), the Court held that nonsignatories have an FAA right to stay litigation, and that federal courts have the jurisdiction to review denials of a petitions to stay arbitration by nonparties.rnThe decision reverses a Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that dismissed the case last year. It involves die interplay between two statutory sections. FAA Section 3 gives litigants a right to ask for a stay of litigation for matters "referable to arbitration under an agreement in writing." FAA Section 16(a)(1)(A) entitles litigants asking for a Section 3 stay to an immediate appeal if their stay request is denied.